1: Identity, I am Shawn Spencer
by nurzubesuch
Summary: Sylar. That's what he calls himself. One more crazy serial killer on Santa Barbara's record – and on Shawn's. But this one seems to want something that he can never ever allow him to take away from him. The first one is his life. The second one is Juliet...
1. Mina

**Identity – I am Shawn Spencer**

**This story is based on the youtube video: Identity [shawn spencer vs sylar] Great stuff. If you haven´t watched it yet I can only recommend it. This story is my try to bring its awesomeness to paper (or on screen for that matter) If I did an adequate job is up to you to decide.**

**And now enjoy the ride.**

**Disclaimer: Of course it´s not mine.**

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><p><strong>Mina<strong>

The whole house was dark and silent. Silent save for the screams of the young woman that ran down the stairs, to get away and out. Out to be save. She´d asked the man in, because she´d believed him that he was a friend of her husband. He´d looked honest and she was a trusting person. Now she was scared, no terrified. She had no idea who this man really was, but she knew one thing for sure. If he would get her, he would kill her.

She reached the ground floor and ran for the door. She could hear him, coming down the stairs, after her. But she believed her headstart was big enough to make it. And then she was there, at the door, the one barrier that was left between her and freedom. Safety.

Her hands clung around the door handle. She was sure she hadn´t locked it. It was a save neighborhood. Usually she never locked the door. But in this moment it just wouldn´t open for her. She clung faster around the handle, pulled and tore, but with no result.

A hand fell down on her shoulder and she shrieked. Short, more a breath than a scream. Her pursuer turned her around. Cold brown eyes stared into hers. Eyes she´d considered friendly when she´d seen them first. Now they were the eyes of a devil, a monster.

Her legs gave in and she slid down the door until she cowered before him. He went down, along with her, his hand never leaving her shoulder.

"Please." she sobbed. "What do you want from me?"

"I think you know that quite well, Mina." the man said.

He looked into her eyes, cold and almost curious, not a bit reacting to her desperate crying. After a while his eyes narrowed a little. A very subtle change, almost impossible to see, but Mina noticed it anyway. She felt the change more than she actually saw it. Something had just surprised him.

"Or don´t you know it after all?" he wondered, his voice deep and low. A sound she´d learned to fear like nothing else on this planet, within only a few minutes.

His hand touched her forehead and he closed his eyes. Mina could feel something happening inside of her head. Something that didn´t quite hurt, but it was unpleasant beyond anything. It was like being raped. When he opened his eyes again, it looked as if he was smiling. An amused kind of smile, only visible in his eyes.

"You don´t know it after all." he said and this time it was not a question anymore.

"What don´t I know?" she managed to ask.

But in this moment, he frowned as if he´d noticed something new and closed his eyes again. Again she could feel the penetration of her mind by that strange and merciless force. This time it did hurt. It hurt a lot. When he opened his eyes again, he glared at her, as if he wanted to accuse her of lying.

Mina had no idea why she should call it that, but it was the first thing that came to her mind. She almost expected him to hit her for not telling the truth. Only that she had no idea what kind of truth this could be.

He didn´t hit her though and he didn´t accuse her of lying either. After another moment, his features cleared again. He even smiled at her.

"It´s funny." he said, talking more to himself than to her. He gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face and locked it behind her ear. Like a lover would do it with his sweetheart.

Mina wanted to scream but she couldn´t. Her voice was frozen in her throat.

"You have no idea what you have in you." he told her, talking softly like he would talk to a child. "This is actually kinda sad. But I can´t change that. It´s too late to turn back. I´m sorry."

Mina wanted to cry out. She wanted to plead, to beg for him not to do it. To let her live. She wanted to tell him that he could turn back if he wanted to. She wanted to say anything, just something to make him stop. But there was nothing coming out of her throat.

His eyes. They were so gentle now and yet so cruel and merciless. Mina had no idea why it terrified her so much when he raised his finger to point at her forehead – until she felt the pain. A pain that didn´t only tear her skin open but also everything that was beneath it. Blood was running down her face.

Still she couldn´t scream. It was as if something kept her from screaming. An invisible hand that clamped around her throat to keep the betraying screams inside. But the screams were there anyway. They were in her head. And they were so loud that she thought her head must explode.

And in the end it did … but not because of her screams.

**...**

It was seven a.m. when Shawn and Juliet entered the diner. The young man hurried to be at the door first, to open it for her. But instead of appreciating it, Juliet frowned, uncertain. The detective in her must have noticed how much happier he was than usual.

"I must say, Shawn." she spoke, taking her seat next to him, at the counter. "I was very surprised when you invited me for breakfast."

"Yeah?" the fake psychic asked. "Why that? Is it that uncommon that a guy wants to spend some time with his girlfriend?"

"No. But you´re usually still in bed at this time and I wonder what drove you out so early."

"That is a good question." he admitted. "A fair question that deserves an answer. You see … this is going to be the coolest day of my life … okay probably not quite THE coolest day of my life. That was the day when I met Curt Smith. But it will be surely one of the coolest days I ever had."

"And why´s that?" she asked, her chin in her palm.

"Gus and I are about to do something today." he said vaguely. "Something we waited for quite a while now and … I just decided that I want to start this day, or rather top it, by having breakfast with you first."

"Aaaw." she smiled, honestly touched. "Shawn, this is so sweet."

The waitress came over to pour them coffee and a few minutes later they got their breakfast. Shawn immediately started to gobble as if he hadn´t eaten for days. An unmistakable sign for how excited he was.

"So now tell me." Juliet demanded after a while. "What is it? What will you guys do today that is so cool?"

"Ahh just … something we used to dream about when we were kids." Shawn said with a tiny wave of his hand. "You know. Boys stuff. You´ll probably laugh about it."

"Why should I laugh?"

"Because … it´s kinda childish."

Juliet raised a brow. "Shawn. You´ve been childish since I first met you and you haven´t changed ever since. Why should I treat this different than all the other stuff you guys came up with over the years? It can´t be more childish than the plan to ride a dolphin."

"Good point." he admitted. "And just for the record. If it wouldn´t be forbidden by law, I would have trained that dolphin, to jump with me over the sea wall, just like Free Willy. And I would have called it Fury."

Juliet frowned. "Fury was a horse." she pointed out.

"Right." Shawn affirmed. "And he let a little boy ride him without a saddle."

"She." Juliet corrected. "Fury was a mare."

Shawn´s eyes flipped back and forth for a moment. "I knew that." he claimed. "And a very educated mare for that matter. She could operate mechanical devices that would ask too much of a chimpanzee, she was able to stenograph and solve highly advanced mathematical formulae by raising her hoof." He imitated the movement with his hand, to underline his statement.

"That´s true." Juliet agreed. "But you still haven´t told me where you and Gus are heading today."

"I haven´t?"

"No, you haven´t."

"Well, that might be because of the …"

"Shawn." she interrupted him. "Are you embarrassed?"

"Embarrassed?" he asked, his voice slightly higher than usual. "Pfft. Why should I be embarrassed? No. I´m just … Gus!" he cried out, relieved when he spotted his friend entering the diner. "Buddy!" he almost cheered, waving at him. "What are you doing here?"

Gus frowned, his dark face highly irritated at the question. "You asked me to pick you up at half past seven." he recalled.

"Ah, yeah." Shawn said. "I remember."

The pharmaceutical salesman stepped up to them, uncertain. "Shawn, are you feeling all right?"

"I was wondering that myself." Juliet agreed, gazing at Shawn, waiting.

"Sure." he said. "Why shouldn´t I?"

Gus looked at him, just for a moment. "Can we go now?" he then dismissed the subject. "They open at eight and I don´t wanna be late."

Shawn nodded, quickly and got up. Juliet turned to Gus though, asking innocently: "What opens at eight?"

All of Shawn´s desperate gestures to keep Gus from answering, were ignored.

"The Transformers Convention." Gus told Juliet proudly, glowing with excitement, his hand wiping over his head as if to fix some not existing strands of hair.

"You two go there?" Juliet cried in disbelieve, turning back to Shawn as if Gus had just told her he was secretly married to an illegal Chinese immigrant. "I tried to get tickets for that."

"You did?" Shawn just couldn´t believe it.

"Why didn´t you guys tell me that before?" she turned back to Gus. "How did you get the tickets?"

"I know the guy who sells them." Gus told her, completely startled over the course this talk had taken.

"You do?"

"Yeah." he shrugged. "You wanna ticket too?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I want."

"You do?" Shawn dropped back into his seat, still not able to believe what he was hearing.

"Shawn! I loved Transformers when I was a kid. I always wanted to meet Bumblebee. And when the movie came out, I almost died. I can´t believe you didn´t tell me that you´re going to the Con."

"Wow." was all Shawn managed to bring out. "I … I don´t know what to say."

"But I do." she said, turning back to Gus. "Guster, I want this ticket." she demanded. "And as soon as my shift is over you two will come and pick me up and don´t you dare to be late." She halted in her talk, eventually hitting the counter with her arms. "Oh, dammit, I hate you guys."

Shawn exchanged a glance with Gus, giving him a signal to wait outside. Gus signaled in return that he should hurry, that he still didn´t want to be late. Shawn answered with a furious face and even stronger signaling, telling him to get his ass out of here already. And of course Juliet could see this all in the corner of her eye. She was biting the inside of her cheek, so she wouldn´t grin, reminding herself that she was ought to be mad. At last Gus left the diner and Shawn turned his attention back to her.

"You know that I have to work files at the station while you guys will have fun at the Con." she said in her best I´m-pissed-voice before he had a chance to speak.

"I really didn´t think that you´d like Transformers." he said.

She glared at him. "You were wrong."

"Obviously. And I was never so happy about being wrong my entire life."

At this she just couldn´t help herself any longer. He´d said it so serious as if it was about life and death. God she hated him … and loved him, just because he was the one that he was.

"You could wait for me and not enter the Con before we can go in together." she suggested, when she had her laughter under control again.

"Are you crazy?" he cried. "That´s the Transformers Convention. Gus and I will be VIP´s."

Juliet bit herself again. She hadn´t expected anything else but dammit, she didn´t want him to see her laughing. That was so not fair.

"But I promise, I´ll wait for you for the rest of the week." he said. "And I´ll organize an autograph from Shia LaBeouf for you."

She didn´t answer, just pressed her hand over her mouth so he wouldn´t hear her giggles. His begging face was just killing her. His eyes were worried, asking if they were all right again, but she just couldn´t answer. Her giggles were keeping her busy. At last she managed to nod.

Behind them the door of the diner got opened again and Gus called for Shawn to stop the sweet talk and hurry up.

"I don´t wanna be late." he shouted so loud that everybody in the diner turned around to him.

One of these guests was a man, sitting alone in a corner booth. His face was half covered with a cap, hidden in the shadow beneath it. When Gus noticed the general reaction to his shouting, he blushed and turned on his best apologetic smile.

"Please hurry up, Shawn." he asked, sweetly.

Shawn stood up, wiping his hands on the handkerchief. "Well, if you´ll excuse me, darling." he said in a nasal voice. "But as you can hear … the voice of my master is calling." He lay down some money to pay his part of the bill. "I then say farewell, my lady." he chanted and bowed down to kiss her goodbye. Then he turned around, performing a bow before Gus. "At your service, master."

"Just let´s go." Gus replied, still uncomfortable about all the eyes that lay on them.

The man in the corner booth watched them go. But compared with all the others, he was not angry about the shouting. He couldn´t care less about that. He turned his head just a few inches to look after them, before returning his attention back to Juliet, watching her finish the rest of her breakfast. Slowly he reached out his hand, for the mug of coffee on the other side of the table. It slipped over the table directly into his hand, like a well behaved dog that reacted to the call of its master. He would just sit here and watch for a while before he would go on. There was no reason to rush.

"You didn´t tell her that the Autobots will drive in for the opening of the Con, did you?" Gus asked Shawn, when the two of them walked to the parking lot. "God no, Gus." Shawn replied, almost shocked and threw a checking glance over his shoulder, to make sure Juliet was nowhere in hearing distance. "Jules would hate me if she knew what she´ll miss."

"She sure will when she finds out." Gus stated.

"Don´t worry. I plan to record everything with my cell phone. She´ll understand that."

As if on cue, Shawn´s cell started to ring, interrupting their talk.

"That´s chief Vick." the fake psychic found, when he checked the display and immediately answered the call. "Chief." he greeted the head of the S.B.P.D. in his best what-can-I-do-for-you-tone.

"Get down here now." was all the chief of police said, no ordered, and named an address for him. She ended the order with a strict: "I´m not asking."

After she´d hung up, Shawn looked down on the cell in his hand, startled. He´d barely ever heard her that distressed. On none of the cases, he and Gus had worked for the S.B.P.D.

"That´s weird."

"What is it?" Gus asked, a very very worried look on his face. He guessed something bad. Something that would shatter their plans to go to the Con. When Shawn stopped and looked ahead at Gus´ blue company car, sighing, his fears were affirmed.

"It seems we have to delay Optimus Prime after all." Shawn shook his head.

**...**

When they reached the crime scene, Shawn couldn´t help himself. Something about this place was dead wrong. And it was not the yellow crime scene tape around the house and the many police cars – one of them a blue Crown Vic that was only too familiar to them. Though it was a little weird that there were so many cars for just one crime.

Gus seemed to have the same idea, because he stopped in his tracks, hesitating to come closer to that door and to what might be behind it.

"Oh, my god." he exclaimed. "Shawn. This is the Manson family."

"The what?"

"I´m sure of it. They murdered a whole family in there. Or the participants of a cocktail party. Ten people at least. I don´t wanna go in there, Shawn."

"Don´t be silly, Gus." Shawn said, walking on. "This is just another crime scene we will walk in, no more and no less. We go in there, we have a look around, I fake a vision and tell them who the killer is and we´ll be on our way to Optimus and Bumblebee before you can say …"

But in this moment, he´d spotted the nameplate at the front door. The name read Singh.

Shawn frowned. Was that just a coincidence? It had to be. There was just no way that this was the house of …

Gus grabbed his arm. "Oh, my god, Shawn." he exclaimed. "Do you think …?"

Shawn wanted to say something but had to learn that he couldn´t. In this moment, he suddenly felt the same fear as Gus. That he would see something more cruel in there, than he would be able to stand. Not because he couldn´t stand to see dead bodies. But this was the house of some friends of his and entering this house could not lead to any good.

But no. The name just had to be a coincidence. Singh was probably a very widespread name with the Indian population. Like Smith or Jones or whatever. Sure it was. And even if it wasn´t, if this really should be Raj´s and Mina´s house, he still had a job to do here. If anyone had killed a member of the Singh family, he would help to find out who did it.

Determined to be strong, he entered, Gus hesitantly following behind. But no determination, no matter how strong, could have prepared them for what they were about to see.

The living room was crowded with police men and forensics, the flashlights of their cameras illuminating the place like a morbid firework, the voices muffled as if they were afraid to talk too loud. The reason was not to overlook and seeing it made Shawn wish, he´d thought twice before he stormed in here.

It was Mina. It truly was her. Even though it looked strange to see her in trousers and shirt and not her dancing sari, it was definitely her. Shawn would never forget that face. Not considering the circumstances under which they´d met.

Though now Shawn didn´t look at her face at all. He´d closed his eyes, the moment he´d recognized her. Next to him Gus gasped in shock. After a moment of just breathing, Shawn made himself open his eyes again, to face the cold and cruel reality that he couldn´t change anymore.

For a moment Shawn felt his stomach turn around. A second after his own insides had started to do this, he could hear Gus gag and hurry back out of the front door. This time Shawn would spare it to tease him later. This time he felt like vomiting himself.

Mina. The beautiful and sweet dancer. Now she was dead. Someone had finally finished what her other pursuer had not been able to do. But that wasn´t the worst of it. Someone had killed her, all right. But her killer seemed to be some kind of obscure Hannibal Lecter Fan, because he hadn´t been satisfied with just killing her. He´d also opened her head and obviously removed her brain. After he´d done that, he´d hung her head down on the banister of her own home´s stairs, nailing her there with different kinds of tools. Knifes, letter openers, a screwdriver … he´d driven them through her legs, arms and torso, as if she was a puppet that needed to be fixed on its place.

"Look at her." he could hear a female voice not so far away, probably one of the forensics. "Must have taken three guys to lift her up that high." And then there were more flashlights, accompanied by the familiar sound of the camera.

Gus had been right too. At least partly. This murderer had obviously taken some inspiration from the Manson family. Not only had he distorted Mina beyond human standards, he´d also written something on the wall beneath her – with her blood. In big red letters there was written: BEST REGARDS, SYLAR. What kind of a sick joke was this?

"Spencer." Shawn heard Lassiter´s voice calling him.

He wanted to turn around to look at the head detective, but found himself unable to turn his gaze away from the sight before him. He´d known this woman, had saved her from falling to death. And he´d known her boyfriend, later husband. To see her that way was … cruel.

"Spencer." Lassiter addressed him again and this time he spoke so gently that Shawn couldn´t help but turned to him, startled. He´d never heard Lassiter talk like that. Not to him. Not to anyone. But when he met the gaze of the lanky Irish man, he had an idea why he did it now. He had to look as horrible as he felt, according to the worry in Lassiter´s eyes. The detective even reached out a hand for him, as if afraid the consultant could faint. And if Shawn was honest, a part of him had actually considered that.

"Easy, Spencer." Lassiter said. "Take your time."

It needed all of Shawn´s strength to make his head perform a nod. "I´m fine." he said.

"Sure?"

Shawn nodded again. He had to clear his throat. "Yeah." He looked at Mina again but this time he couldn´t stand it for long. "Raj?" he asked with a husky voice that barely sounded like his own. "Does he know?"

"He found her." Lassiter informed him.

Shawn stared at him in shock. Just the idea of Raj coming home and finding Mina like this, was more than he could imagine. The man must be destroyed.

Lassiter nodded as if he´d read his thoughts.

"He is at the station now." he said. "Under psychological care."

"Oh, man." Shawn exclaimed and wiped some sweat off his forehead. He noticed that the detective´s hand was still on his arm. I really must look terrible, he mused.

"I´m fine." he assured Lassiter, with a nod.

This time the detective accepted it and let go of him.

"Mr. Spencer." the chief joined them, quietly.

Now Shawn was sure, this case was not a usual one. That the chief came here herself was more than enough proof of this. She looked at him as sympathizing as Lassiter earlier.

"I know you knew the victim." she said. "But I hope you can help us anyway."

"Sure." Shawn said and quickly let his eyes wander over the place, the body, the stairs, taking in all the details he noticed. He spotted some pictures along the stairs, that were hanging askew and raised a hand to his temple.

"I sense that she was upstairs … with the killer."

"That´s right." the chief said. "We found a working gramophone up there. She must have put some music on, before he started to attack her. Really strange."

"Oh, my god." a soft voice behind them exclaimed.

Juliet had just entered the place, her face as pale as Shawn´s. Her eyes were fixed on the dead Mina, shocked. When they´d worked her and Raj´s case, she had shown a big deal of compassion for the couple. Now when her gaze met Shawn´s, he could see how badly she wanted to hug him. As if he was the one, who´d lost his better half in such a cruel way.

"Detective O´Hara." chief Vick gave Juliet a nod and released them all from that tensing moment. "We could need you over here."

Juliet followed her, when she led the way, grateful for the lead. She was an experienced cop but this sight had shaken her, Shawn could see that. Damn, it had even shaken Lassiter and that guy usually was like a robot.

"Did Raj or Mina call you lately?" the head detective now asked him.

Shawn turned to him, startled. "No. Why?"

Lassiter pointed at a table by the couch. The telephone was standing there and next to the phone there was an open book. Raj´s and Mina´s address-book. A pen was lying across the pages, underlining the name that was written there, next to the number. It read Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective.

"This is my number, all right." was all Shawn knew to say. "Seems they kept it in case … in case they might need my service?"

"Why they kept it, is not important." Lassiter said. "But if neither of them called you lately …"

He didn´t need to finish the sentence for Shawn to know what he meant. Whoever had killed Mina, had noted down his number. And that was never a good sign.

He could hear a ringing tone from the other side of the room and chief Vick answering the call. She talked to the caller for a moment and then hung up.

"Gentlemen." she announced. "When you´re done here, I´d ask you to join me at the station. There we´ll be debriefed about what we´re dealing with here."

"What … what does that mean?" Shawn asked but she was already gone. He glanced at Lassiter and Jules. "I thought, I´m here to tell you who the killer is."

"We already know who the killer is." Juliet said in a sad tone. "That is … the FBI knows him."

Shawn´s feelings went down even more. He´d thought they were down to the bottom already but obviously he´d been wrong. An FBI case that meant serial killer. And in that regard, he didn´t quite have the best experiences.

He followed Jules and Lassiter outside, glad to finally get away from that place. He´d never been so glad to leave a crime scene.

Gus was waiting for him at the gate, an almost pleading look on his face.

"Please, tell me that Raj isn´t in there too." he begged.

"No, he isn´t." Shawn answered. "Lassie says he´s at the station. He found her."

"Oh, god." Gus exclaimed. A moment later, he started to cry. Shawn shifted from one foot to the other and awkwardly padded his friend´s shoulder.

"Give me the keys." he said. "I drive."

Gus handed the keys over, rather happy about that offer. He was still sobbing when he got into the passengers seat. Shawn halted for another second before he got in the car. He could see Lassie on the other side, standing by his own car. He halfway expected the detective to roll his eyes about Gus´ habit of sympathetic crying, but this time he didn´t do it. He looked a little uncomfortable and somehow he managed it to let it look like an annoyed face. Showing too much compassion just wouldn´t be like Lassiter, Shawn figured.

But that was okay. Right now he wouldn´t be able to stand so much more compassion from unexpected sources anyway. And Lassiter was a very unexpected source. The whole thing was sad enough already.

So he got in the car and drove off, following Lassie´s blue Vic.

Neither of them had noticed the man on the other side of the street, standing amongst some rubberneckers, totally unsuspicious, blending in. Now that they were gone, he left the place, not interested in it any longer. He´d seen everything he´d wanted to see and didn´t look back a single time.

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><p><strong>Long first chapter, I know. But that´s what you´re getting yourself into. So let me know what you think, okay?<strong>

**And thanks for reading.**


	2. Mary

**Mary**

The first thing Shawn saw, when they reached the police station, was the projector that stood in the middle of the room. A rare sight in this place. Sometimes it seemed as if they only took that thing out when something really bad happened. It was like a bad messenger. The projector of Satan, so to say.

The second thing he saw, was the small figure that sat behind Lassiter´s desk, reading something on the screen of his computer. His face was as blank as it had been since Shawn had met the man for the first time. Sometimes he wondered how a living person could be so pale and have such an almost permanent expression of outside boredom and inside tension.

"Mary." Gus greeted surprised when he noticed him. "What are you doing here?"

The FBI profiler got up, a sleepy smile on his face. "Gus." he greeted with an equally sleepy voice. When he saw Shawn his face seemed to light up. At least in a Mary Lightly way of lighting up. "Shawn. Nice to see you again." he said and reached out his limp hand.

Shawn had to make himself touch those bony and almost lifeless fingers to give them a short shake. He withdrew them immediately though. Mary seemed absolutely satisfied.

"Dammit, Lightly." he heard Lassiter snap behind them. "What are you doing on my computer?"

"Just took the freedom to improve some of your preferences." Mary answered without any change in his voice. "I had to occupy myself while waiting for you."

"Well, we are here now." Lassiter snapped. "So I would thank you if you´d keep your fingers off my stuff. Especially my computer."

"No problem, detective." Mary said, still far too calm to be normal, especially since Lassiter had planted himself in front of him in his best threatening mood. He just turned away from the angry detective as if he hadn´t even noticed his presence. "If you want to follow me then." he said and went over to the projector.

Shawn had to chuckle. This guy truly had the temperament of a shifting dune. Lassiter was still gnashing his teeth but eventually made his way into the bullpen like everyone else. Chief Vick came out of her office to join them all in this presentation that was about to come.

Shawn didn´t plan to throw a look into her office. It just happened. And when he did, he spotted Raj, sitting on the couch in the counseling corner. The familiar dark face, the curly black hair, messed up after this night. He had his chin buried in his hands, constantly shaking his head, while the psychologist tried to talk to him. His eyes were red from the tears he´d cried, probably the whole night.

Shawn couldn´t stand to look at this any longer and turned his head away from the sight. Only to find himself looking straight into Juliet´s eyes. She seemed to know exactly what was going on inside of him. Her gaze told him that she shared his feelings. Of course she did. Jules was probably the most compassionate person Shawn had ever met in his life. Except for Gus maybe. At least Jules was not crying. He had no idea if he could handle that right now.

"Now everybody listen up." chief Vick now called. "Mr. Lightly has just arrived in Santa Barbara. When he heard about the murder that has been committed last night, he immediately took a plane to come here, to help us. As you can imagine, the murderer is not an unknown person to the FBI. They have long years of experience with him and that he is now here in Santa Barbara, can only mean one thing. He is looking for a new challenger. Mary."

"Thank you, chief." Mary said and activated the projector. There was the picture of a man on the wall. He was in his mid thirties, had black hair and strong features. A guy like this was not so easily mistaken. Shawn wondered, how he could still be free when the FBI knew who he was.

"This is Gabriel Gray." Mary told them. "Aka Sylar. He has given himself that name. His first victim, as far as we know, was a Brian Davis. That was in 2006. His motive for this murder is a mystery until today. As are his motives for most of his crimes. It is possible that he kills out of the simple need to kill. A need that is by some profilers called hunger. Sylar has raised this term to a new level. He is the most notorious killer this city has never seen. Even for the FBI his case is over-averagely high profile. He seems to be attracted by certain philosophies, such as the idea of Karma and fate as well as balance. We observed these affinities in some of his killings, showing us two opposing and at the same time complimentary aspects. Dark versus light. Killer versus cop …"

"So you say that this guy is leaving these messages on purpose." Lassiter interrupted him.

"Exactly." Mary affirmed. "He enjoys to kill and he enjoys it to let us know how good he is. He killed fourteen people that we know about. No one knows how many more he has killed that were never discovered. His most significant M.O. is the removal of his victims brains. Some of our profilers believe that he is a cannibal and takes the brains to eat them."

The picture of the man was replaced by several pictures of dead people, whose heads looked exactly like Mina´s. Shawn heard Gus gag next to him. Under different circumstances he would have made a joke about Hannibal Lecter at this point. But this time he really didn´t feel like joking. He´d seen Mina. More than that, he´d seen Mina´s head. This guy was no fun. Not at all.

"However." Mary went on. "My very own theory is that he takes the brains for another reason."

"And what might that be?" Lassiter asked, crossing his arms. He obviously expected something ridiculous to come and he was not disappointed.

"I believe he takes them to study them." Mary said. "To find something inside of them."

"What could he possibly hope to find there?" Juliet asked. "Is he a brain surgeon?"

"No." Mary said. "He is a watchmaker. A very highly skilled watchmaker as far as we know."

"Oh, hey." Lassiter exclaimed. "Where´s the difference between a watch and a brain? This guy is a sick bastard, I think we all agree about that. Could we keep going, so we can try to find him?"

"Certainly, detective."

"Why did he arrange Mina in that … way?" Juliet wanted to know. "And why did he sign his … his work? Is that some kind of mocking?"

"Only to a certain degree." Mary said. "Sylar signed a few of his victims like that, but rarely to mock. This man is not the kind of killer for humor, not even the twisted kind of humor a Jack the Ripper might find funny. When Sylar leaves something behind, it´s always a message."

The picture on the wall changed again to a message that was written on the wall behind one of the early victims, the way it had been in Mina´s house. This message read: I am Sylar.

"For the police?" Lassiter asked.

"Or … for someone else." Mary said and now he looked straight at Shawn.

"What?" Shawn asked, looking around in confusion. "Me? What do _I_ have to do with him?"

"Who knows." Mary said. "Maybe he heard about you. So far his victims always seemed to have some special gifts. Psychic abilities are a gift. Maybe he wants them."

"Wants them? How so? Sucking them out of me like a vampire?" Shawn laughed but no one laughed with him.

"I think, he´ll try exactly that." Mary agreed with his usual steady voice. "But I guess he´ll try to suck it out of your brain."

"Wait. Just a goddamn second." Henry Spencer cried out and stepped forward, to plant himself in the middle of the room. "Are you telling me that Shawn is the next victim on this guy´s list?"

Mary just looked at Shawn with this creepy blank face of his. "I believe it is highly possible." he said, without so much as a change in his voice.

"All right, that´s it." Henry cried. "If this guy is truly after my son, I want him under police protection, Karen. Ah, what do I say? I won´t let you out of my sight myself until we bust this son of a bitch."

"Dad, I´m really flattered about your concern." Shawn spoke, a little uncomfortable about this whole thing and a lot concerned about his privacy in the next few days. "But so far Mary´s theory is just a theory. We don´t know what this guy wants."

"But your father is right." chief Vick agreed. "As long as we don´t know if your life is in danger, I´ll order an officer to constantly be with you from now on."

"That might even not be enough." Mary chipped back in. "Some of Sylar´s victims have been killed from very short distances. They let him come close. So close one would only let a person of trust."

"What do you want to say with that?" Henry asked.

"There are pictures shot by surveillance cameras, that indicate that Sylar is capable of changing his appearance." Mary explained and showed some pictures that showed barely more than an undefinable person walking along a way or through a staircase. "That way he could fool his victims until it was too late." Mary finished as if these pictures had proven his statement.

"He might dress up as much as he wants." Henry said, dismissing the poor pictures. "If he tries to come close to Shawn …"

"I´m not talking about disguises." Mary interrupted him. "He changes his appearance."

"What the hell are you talking about, Lightly?" Lassiter demanded to know.

"I have strong reasons to believe that the man, we are looking for, is a shapeshifter." Mary said and switched back to Sylar´s picture, totally ignoring the baffled faces all around him. "This might not necessarily be the face you´ll see when you meet him." he went on. "He also seems to have a highly advanced gift of understanding, looking into people if you prefer that, what makes it easier for him to impersonate someone."

Shawn couldn´t help but laughed out at this. "He´s a Pretender." he said.

"You can´t be serious with that." Lassiter said, looking at Mary with something close to disgust.

"I am, detective." was all Mary replied with his sleepy voice.

"Oh, my god. Chief! Please!" Lassiter cried.

"We need real evidence here, Mr. Lightly." chief Vick agreed, uncertainty glittering in her eyes. "Not some fantastic semi supernatural explanation."

"This is not semi supernatural, chief." Mary argued calmly. "Shapeshifting is a one hundred percent supernatural ability. "

"Chief!" Lassiter cried, now almost desperately. "I can´t believe that we´re really listening to that. This guy is even more crazy than you are." he added, looking at Shawn, who raised both brows, playing surprised.

"Detective Lassiter is right, Mr. Lightly." Karen said as politely as possible. "So if you don´t have any other information for us, how to catch this guy, I´d like to send my detectives back to work."

Mary just nodded his agreement to that suggestion, much to everybody´s great relief. That was by far the strangest briefing they´d ever had in this station.

Correlatively quick was their retrieve back to their own working stations. Shawn and Gus stepped out of the way until the room had cleared itself and the crowd had become a station of individuals again. Shawn caught a glance from Jules and then she went away to her desk, like all the others. Now only one was left.

They waited for Mary to come over to them and the small profiler promptly did them the favor. Sometimes it was creepy how he approached someone, Shawn thought. Constantly locking eyes, while moving in this sleepwalker fashion of his. Creepy.

"I must say, Mary." he said, ignoring the chills this little man gave him. "That was the most impressive story I´ve ever heard in my life and it means a lot, when I say that. I especially liked the reference to Pretender you managed to put in there. This guy Sylar actually looks a little like Michael T. Weiss. But other than that … it was a little over the top don´t you think?"

"Let me ask you a question." Gus said. "Do your superiors know about this crazy theory of yours?"

"That´s the reason why they took the case away from me." Mary told them, absolutely frankly.

"What?" Gus cried.

"You´re not on this case?" Shawn repeated in disbelieve.

"What are you doing here then?" Gus wanted to know.

"I´m still the one who knows this case best." Mary shrugged. "I wanted to help."

"Well, so far you only helped yourself to a big embarrassment."

"That´s something I´m used to." Mary replied. "But Shawn. You shouldn´t deny my theory so easily. I totally meant what I said."

"I believe you did." Shawn said with both eyebrows raised. "There is only one problem. There are no such things as shapeshifters."

"What if there are?" Mary replied.

"Mary." Gus said in an exasperated tone. "You need to go on a vacation. And stop reading those sci-fi magazines."

"Is this the man that killed my wife?" a voice spoke up, making them all flinch – all but Mary, who Shawn strongly believed didn´t even have the enzymes for flinching.

Raj was standing in the hall, behind them, staring at the picture that was still projected at the wall. Someone switched it off in this moment, but the Indian man´s dark eyes stayed at the spot, as if he could still see the face of the man that had killed his wife.

Shawn exchanged an uncomfortable glance with Gus.

"Raj, listen." he said carefully. "I can´t tell you how sorry I am about Mina."

But Raj had already swirled around, to look at Mary, eyes sparkling dangerously. He didn´t seem as if he´d even heard Shawn´s words.

"I heard what you said before." he told Mary. "Is it true? Is this man really a shapeshifter?"

"That´s my theory." Mary said.

"No." Gus interrupted and placed himself between Mary and Raj. "This is not a good idea. Raj. I´m very sorry about Mina. But you are grieving and you shouldn´t listen to any of this. It´ll only make it worse."

Raj looked at him for a moment as if he didn´t even know who he was and for a moment Shawn thought, he´d attack him. But then he lowered his gaze.

"You´re probably right." he said. "I´m sorry. It´s just …" he choked, not able to go on.

"I know." Shawn said, padding Raj´s arm in sympathy. "I´m sorry."

Raj just nodded, not looking at him and then just walked away, without another word.

"Hey, are you ready to drive?" Gus called after him but Raj didn´t turn around.

The three men looked at each other for a moment. "Poor guy." Mary finally said. "Shawn, you might consider locking yourself in a cell under constant watch." he instantly changed the subject.

"Wha …" Shawn chuckled. "Don´t be mad with me when I say that, but you´re crazy."

"I´m not mad with you, Shawn." Mary said. "I was just suggesting a possibility."

"Thanks for your concern but I think I´m fine."

"I hope so. Be careful, Shawn. Sylar´s dangerous. We never really figured out how he kills his victims."

"You can ask him as soon as we have him." Shawn said and strange as it was, Mary nodded in agreement. "Come on, Gus." Shawn said. "Let´s roll."

They´d barely made two steps when Henry seemed to appear from out of nowhere, blocking their way.

"Where do you think you´re going, Shawn?" he demanded to know.

"Well, let me think." Shawn said. "Catching a bad guy?"

"You won´t set a single step out of this station." Henry said matter of factly. "Not without protection."

"Oh, come on. I thought we already settled that Mary´s story was bogus. I can´t believe that you´ve been lurking for me."

"Stop fooling around, Shawn." Henry snapped. "Someone _is_ lurking for you. And as long as we don´t have him, I won´t let you out of my sight."

"Dad."

"No, Shawn." Henry talked over him. "I did some research on that case too. This Sylar is a psychopath that chooses his victims very accurately. As accurately as he dismantles them."

"That´s true." Mary agreed calmly.

"Hey. Guys." Shawn tried to speak up against all this craziness when his cell phone started to ring. He took it out of his pocket, still grinning about so much foolishness all around him. "You know, usually it is my part to talk nonsense." he said and answered the call. "Yep? What´s up?"

"This is no nonsense, Shawn." Henry hissed. "And if you don´t wanna listen then …" he stopped himself in the middle of the sentence though. Shawn had paled all the sudden and there was an expression on his face that could not mean anything good. He raised a finger to his mouth. Then he pointed at the phone in his hand and mouthed: That´s him.

"Aha." he said loud and then kept listening again.

Mary immediately rushed over to Lassiter´s desk again. The fastest anyone had ever seen him moving. He started to type something into the computer.

"What did I tell you before?" Lassiter snapped when he saw that and left Juliet´s desk, to chase the annoying little man away from his computer. But then he saw Henry´s face and the gestures that told him to shut up. Combined with Shawn on the phone and his tensed posture, Lassiter realized that something was up. Something serious. He glanced down, at the screen of his computer. Mary was in the process of tracing the call.

O´Hara came over too. She looked at Shawn with wide concerned eyes. He looked back at her with an expression of high concentration, while he still tried to talk to that criminal on the other end of the line.

"He is using a cell phone." Mary told them. "So even if I can track him down, he might be gone by the time we get there."

"No, he won´t." Lassiter growled determined and took his own cell phone out. "Call me and guide us to him." he ordered Mary. With that he was already on his way out, dragging Shawn along with him. "Keep him in the line." he ordered the startled man.

Henry, Gus and Juliet had no other option than to hurry after them.

Barely a minute later, Shawn sat in Lassiter´s car and the detective was driving through the streets like crazy. Henry and Gus were driving with Juliet behind them. They all were so totally focused on tracking down Sylar, that neither of them noticed the third car, following them in an appropriate distance.

Lassiter had activated the lights but spared the horn. Sylar should not know that they were on their way to him.

"What do you want?" Shawn now asked the man on the other end.

"I just wanted to know, if it was true what Mina thought about you." the deep and husky voice of the killer told him.

"Ah yeah?" Shawn replied with a look at Lassiter. "What did she think about me?"

"That you were psychic." the voice answered. "You´ll understand that I´m curious."

Lassiter´s own cell rang and he flipped it open. "Which way?" he demanded to know. A second later he looked around, to figure out the best way to drive.

"You were not the first one whose mind I blew with my skills." Shawn kept talking, trying to sound confident.

There was a chuckle in the line. "I used to blow some minds too." Sylar said. "But I must say you don´t quite fit my imagination of a psychic."

"Well, I´m sorry to disappoint you." Shawn said.

"I didn´t say I´m disappointed." Sylar replied. "Psychic Detectives. Sounds like an interesting skill."

Shawn´s heart stopped for a moment. So Mary had been right. This guy was interested in him. In his head. He swallowed when the image of Mina´s open head came back to him. Next to him Lassiter got a new direction over his cell and took another turn.

"So why … why do you call?" Shawn asked and had to clear his throat.

"Let´s just say, you fascinate me." Sylar said.

"If you want to kill me, it´s pretty stupid to warn me in advance, don´t you think?" Shawn replied, trying to speak even, so Sylar – or Lassiter for that matter – wouldn´t notice the goosebumps that ran all over his arms.

"Who says that I want to kill you?" Sylar asked.

"Well … everybody." Shawn replied. "The FBI, common sense, the spirits."

He only got another chuckle at this. "I have no reason to kill you." Sylar said. "I´m not even sure if you have what I want."

"And what is it, that you want?"

"Didn´t Mary Lightly already tell you? He is in town, isn´t he? Of course he is." Sylar said and made Shawn´s heart truly skip a beat this time. "It´s power what I´m after." Sylar now explained.

"Is that the reason why you killed Mina?" Shawn asked.

"Exactly."

"What power could she have had, to make her interesting for you?" Shawn snapped. "She was a dancer."

"She had the power to feed from music." Sylar explained. "To gain strength from it. This is a very useful power."

Shawn couldn´t believe what he heard. "You are crazy." he said.

"Yeah?" Sylar asked with a chuckle "Maybe I am."

Shawn threw a look over to Lassiter, out of the simple need for mental comfort. Against this guy even Lassiter seemed sane.

The detective noticed Shawn´s uncomfortable gaze. "You are very close now, detective." Mary Lightly told him on the phone. "You´re almost there." In this moment Lassiter and Shawn looked ahead, realizing the same time where they were. They´d driven down to the beach promenade without realizing it. They even could already see the roof of the Psych office. And it didn´t need a psychic to know that this was no coincidence.

"Son of a bitch."


	3. Rajesh

**Rajesh**

"Son of a bitch." Lassiter mumbled, still staring at the Psych sign ahead of them. He snapped his cell phone shut and put his foot down on the accelerator. Shawn thought he´d never rushed into the parking lot next to his office that fast before. It was almost a miracle that Lassiter managed it to hit the brakes in time, before he ran down the barricade that surrounded it.

The car´d barely stopped, when the detective was already out of the door and on his way over to the front door of Shawn´s office, gun drawn and ready to shoot everybody who looked only remotely like the guy they´d all seen on the department´s wall.

Shawn had to hurry to catch up with him. Just before he reached the door, he saw Jules´ car pulling into the parking lot, stopping with squeaking tires. When he entered his office, Lassiter was already on his way back out.

"Stay here." he commanded and was gone.

Shawn hesitated where to go. Gus came running, close to panic, and the fake psychic decided to check his office. Should Lassie chase the bad guy. That´s what he could do best anyway. So he entered, Gus right at his heels. The office looked exactly as always. Nothing was changed. The two desks were untouched, just like the kitchen corner and everything else for that matter. There was only one thing that was not supposed to be there.

A cell phone, that was still working. It lay in the middle of Shawn´s desk. The fake psychic looked down on his own phone and finally switched it off, disconnecting the line. Behind him he heard another person enter. But the only thing he could look at, was this strange phone, sitting on his desk, its display looking up at him, mocking him.

"Shawn." the voice of his father broke the spell.

He turned around. "Do they have him?" he asked but already knew the answer. He shook his head in disbelieve. "He was right here." he said. "Right here. Just a minute before we got here. He probably knew that we were coming all along."

Shawn felt the rage rising inside of him. This guy had fooled him, had played with him. And he´d left his cell behind to let him know about this.

"He probably saw us coming." he shouted. "He was here watching us the whole time!"

In his frustration he grabbed the chair and threw it to the ground.

"This goddamn bastard."

"Shawn." Henry spoke. "Shawn, listen to me." He waited until his son looked him in the eyes. "We need to go back to the station. You are not save here anymore."

Shawn could hear Lassiter cursing outside and then he saw the two shapes of him and Jules passing by his window. Lassie was talking to someone on the phone, reporting that they´d lost the suspect. His voice faded, while he walked back to his car.

"Shawn, let´s go." Henry said.

Shawn didn´t move. He wouldn´t. He was too angry to listen to his dad now. Talking about that this guy doesn´t mock, hm Mary? And then Jules came in. She looked at him with asking eyes. Shawn who´d opened his mouth to speak against Henry´s suggestion, closed it again. For a moment, he wasn´t sure what he´d wanted to say. But then he remembered and he felt strange about it. He had a reason to be mad with Sylar, not with his father.

Eventually he nodded. There was no reason to disagree. It had been just a reflex. But in this case it was probably right. They really should go back to the station.

"Forensics are on their way." Juliet told them. When she noticed the cell phone on the desk she threw Shawn an asking glance.

He pointed at it. "That´s his." he said, confirming her guess.

Juliet immediately took a plastic bag and picked up the phone with a handkerchief, to put it in.

When their eyes met again, she was quiet. He could see that she wanted to say something, anything, but just didn´t have the right words. He knew the feeling. They all left the office without speaking another word.

Lassiter was already waiting for them, by his car. Shawn could see haste and worry in his eyes. But even worse than this was the fact that Lassie might be able to see the haste and worry Shawn felt himself, and that was something he just couldn´t allow. It was far too early for that. He was not that desperate yet, to allow him to see it. Not by a long shot.

So he put on his best Shawn Spencer smirk and gave Lassiter a thumb up.

"Way to go, Lassie." he said and confused the detective the way he was supposed to be confused. "A great Vin Diesel you put out there before. Not bad, man. Not bad."

Lassiter thought that comment over for a second and then accepted it in silence, with a shrug. Without saying another word, he got behind his wheel and as soon as everybody was back in the cars, they drove off.

Their departure was closely watched from a pretty dark haired woman, standing at the corner of the gift shop on the other side of the parking lot. A woman who could have been Mina Singh´s twin.

After a while, she turned around and left the place. On her way through the streets, she passed through a tight space, between a tree and a house. When she came back out on the other side, the woman that once had been Mina Singh, was gone. Her face and shape had been replaced by that of a man. A man with dark hair and even darker eyes.

He walked down the street with no haste at all, until he reached a car. When he finally drove off, he was followed by the same car that earlier had followed the detectives.

**...**

In this afternoon, Rajesh Singh´s car was parked in front of an apartment-house. He was sitting there behind his wheel for quite a while now. A few hours ago, he´d heard the muezzin call from the minaret of the mosque at the other end of the street. He´d seen the Muslim go in for their prayer and he´d seen them coming out again, to go back to their normal routine. He´d just sat here and watched. But not because of them.

It was not that he was waiting for anything. Especially not for anyone. He knew exactly where the man was, he came for. He´d seen him enter this house long ago. He knew where he was. He knew the number of his apartment. An old lady who was sitting at her window all day long had told him. The man he´d described to her just moved in, she´d said, but he never greeted. And she strongly believed that he was a criminal of some sort.

Raj had considered to call Shawn, to tell him and the police where they could find him. He´d really thought about it. But in the end, he´d found himself in a weapons store, buying a revolver, something he´d never believed, he would ever want to touch in his life. But his life had ended anyway. It had ended when he´d entered his house last night to find his wife dead, hanging from the banister of the stairs in their house. The stairs that had led up to the second floor, where their bedroom had been. The place they´d shared for two happy years. And now she was gone. Everything was gone.

No. The life he was referring to, didn´t exist any longer. It had ended when Mina´s life had ended. In the moment, when the man that was sitting comfortable now in his apartment number 403 in the third floor, had killed her.

No. There was no going back now. He´d come here to kill a man. The man that had killed his wife. And that was the reason why he was still sitting in his car, looking at this house. Because the man he´d been once upon a time, was still partly there and he tried to talk him out of this.

_Turn around,_ the voice of this man said._ You´re not a killer. You´re better than this._

The only problem was that the voice saying this, was the voice of a dead man. A man who had died when his wife had died. And since the dead couldn´t speak any longer, Raj didn´t hear this voice. At least he grew to hear it less and less, until it was gone for good.

His wife was dead. His love. His life. And the man who´d stolen her life, was in this house. Third floor, apartment number 403. Raj didn´t care if Mina might be reborn already in a new baby by now. He didn´t want her soul in a new born baby. He wanted her. But she was gone. Forever.

His hand found the handle of his car´s door and opened it. He got out and walked over to the front door. Maybe it had been some kind of intuition, but in the moment when he reached the door, someone came out and Raj could slip in before the door closed again. He climbed the stairs until he reached the third floor.

The number 403 was easy to find. Now the moment had come. The moment of truth. Raj took the revolver out of his bag and prepared himself. Eventually he raised his leg and kicked against the door, with all the power he had. The door gave way surprisingly easy.

Raj had expected the murderer of his wife to come running to the door, as soon as he heard him break it. But nothing like this happened. No one came. Was he even home? Had Raj missed him go out after all? Maybe he´d used another form when he left, he mused. He´d seen him change from Mina´s shape to his own form on the street. What this FBI man had said, had turned out to be true. The man was a shapeshifter. And a creature like that could only gain his powers from an evil source. He might even be a demon in human form. But that was all right. Demons could be killed too. Raj was not afraid. He had nothing left to lose anyway.

So he entered the place, carefully looking around, in case the demon should try to sneak into his back. But no one seemed to be there. Raj went on, searching the apartment. He searched the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom. No one was there. When he entered the hallway again, he noticed something. A part of it was concealed with a curtain, what had made the hall look shorter first.

Raj approached the curtain, his gun ready to fire. But a moment before he actually reached the curtain, he was sure that no one was behind it. He didn´t know where this knowledge came from and he didn´t care. He lowered the gun and pulled the curtains open. What he found behind them, was disturbing.

It was nothing but a hollow space, but it wasn´t the emptiness of this closet that was the disturbing part. It was the walls. There were things written all over these walls as if the man who lived here, had felt the irresistible need to express his thoughts in the most excessive way possible. Some of the lines were faded and some were so smudged that Raj couldn´t read them. But there was one thing he´d written over and over again, not the least in big red letters across the back wall. It was only two words but they seemed to scream louder than all the others. FORGIVE ME_._ Written beneath them, smaller but not less powerful, was the rest of the line: _My father for I have sinned._

This man had to be worse than everything Raj had been able to imagine. Why did he hide this behind a curtain, he wondered. Did he hide it from possible visitors? Or from himself? Maybe he _was_ possessed by a demon and these words were the cries of the other part of his soul. For a moment the other part of Raj´s soul came back to him. The part that was able to feel sorry for a creature that was imprisoned within his own mind, like this one was. But the moment went by rather quickly. It was over when he heard the sound of a door being closed. The front door of the apartment, he´d left open.

Immediately he hurried back into the sitting room, his revolver in both hands. There he was. The man, Raj had come here to kill. When his eyes fell upon him, there was an expression of surprise on his face. But it was Raj who seemed to have his attention, not the gun he was aiming at him.

"Mohinder?" the killer asked, almost shocked.

Raj gasped, silently, confused, scared. "You know my cousin?" he managed to ask.

Sylar lowered his gaze for a second, thinking this new information over. When he looked at Raj again, his face was placid again.

"I didn´t know Mohinder had a cousin." he said. His eyes studied Raj for a moment. Eventually he chuckled. "It´s a small world, isn´t it?" he said, shaking his head, amazed. "The resemblance between you two is astounding."

"You killed my wife." Raj now told him, barely able to keep his voice even.

Sylar raised his chin about an inch, in a gesture of realization. He even smiled a little at Raj´s fury.

"I see." he said. "You´re not only related to an old friend of mine … you´re also married to the woman I killed last night. Talking about small worlds, hm?" This was the first time he seemed to notice the gun in Raj´s hand. "Let me guess." he said. "You´ve come here to kill me. To take revenge."

"Yes." Raj´s voice was trembling as much as his hand that held the revolver.

Sylar nodded. "Seems to run in the family." he commented and then just looked at him, waiting. After a moment he raised his brows. "What are you waiting for?"

Raj´s eyes filled with tears. "Why did you do it?" he asked, losing the fight against his grief. "Why did you kill her? She never hurt a soul her entire life."

"She had something that I needed." was all Sylar said. "Why do you ask for reasons? You know there are no reasons. I´m a killer. This is who I am."

"I know." Raj said, getting himself under control again. "I know, who you are. What you are."

Now Sylar looked a little more interested. "Do you?" he asked.

Raj just nodded and Sylar mirrored the nod. He understood.

"What a shame." the killer said. "I had no business with you."

"You killed my wife." Raj repeated. "I have some business with _you_."

Sylar just nodded again. "Go ahead." he then said.

For a second Raj was startled. But then the cold rage was back, the rage that had driven him to come here in the first place. The rage that had made him buy a revolver, knowing that he would kill a person with it. The person who´d killed his wife.

He looked into this man´s eyes and saw nothing in them. No regret, no emotion, just nothing. Not even fear. Maybe he just didn´t think that Raj would actually do it. Once upon a time he would have been right with that. Yesterday he would have been right with that. But yesterday Mina had still been alive. Now she was dead. And he was the reason.

Raj pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew straight at Sylar´s face. Raj had aimed directly between his cold uncaring eyes. No way that he could miss him. Even an inexperienced shooter like him. But still, Sylar didn´t die. The bullet never reached him. It stopped just a few inches before his face.

Raj couldn´t believe what he saw. Sylar was staring at the bullet as if he was hypnotized by it. But his eyes were no eyes anymore. They were cold and empty holes, a demon´s eyes. After a while in which neither Raj nor Sylar moved, Sylar suddenly smiled at him.

"You know …" he said. "Your cousin tried to kill me like that once. If he didn´t succeed, how is anyone else supposed to do it?"

"You´re a demon." Raj whispered.

"You´re probably right." Sylar replied. "But unfortunately I can´t let you go, now that you know about it." He shook his head. "I´m really sorry." he said. "As I told you. I had no business with you." He looked at Raj one last time, and shook his head. "You really do look like your cousin." he found and it sounded as if he still couldn´t believe it.

Eventually he shrugged. With a single gesture of his hand, he made the bullet, that was still frozen dead before his face, turn around and drove it into the head of the man who´d fired it.

**...**

The police station had rarely been so busy. People were talking, telephones were ringing almost constantly and Lassiter was shouting at everybody who didn´t walk fast enough. The forensics who´d looked at the Psych office hadn´t found very much. A few footprints but that was all. The phone Sylar´d left behind, was a prepaid cell phone and not helpful for anything either. Everybody was on the tenterhooks, even Shawn couldn´t go back to his usual humor to ease his tension. He was still buzzing after the experience to have missed this killer about just a minute, after he´d been lurking in his very own office. His office. Man, that was creepy.

The only one who was still sitting seemingly motionless in his chair, was Mary Lightly. The man seemed to be insensitive to any kind of human stress. Maybe he was really missing the enzymes, Shawn thought but could only produce a tiny chuckle with that.

Man, that was not his day. When he already started to repeat his own jokes … there was just no better indication for stress than that. And the day had started so good. His breakfast with Jules, he and Gus planning to go and see the Autobots … it could have been such a nice day. And now? What was it now? He didn´t even know a word for what it had become.

Man, he hated this Sylar guy already. Everybody who took the fun away from a could-be-a-good-day like this, was worth hating.

"Maybe we can take advantage of all that." Mary suddenly spoke up after a while, making everybody look at him. He just nodded.

"Think about it." he said. "Sylar obviously has a thing for Shawn. Now that we know that, we can use it. We can set a trap for him. I know exactly how to do it."

"Forget it, Lightly." Henry immediately objected. "You won´t use my son as bait. This guy is a maniac. No way."

"All right, but that is the best chance we have." Mary said. "Think about it, Shawn. We were never that close to him before. He never called anyone. Not even me. This is a one in a million chance."

"You want Shawn to risk his life, just because you are jealous that it was him and not you who has been called?" Henry barked.

"His life wouldn´t be in danger." Mary replied, still completely calm. "Of course we´d watch him all the time."

"Forget it." Henry was stubborn.

"Dad." Shawn spoke up.

"This is the most crazy idea you blurred out since you came here, Lightly." Henry went on, not even hearing him.

"Dad."

"And you talked a lot of crazy stuff today. Do you really think that anyone is listening to your crap?"

"Would anyone mind to ask ME!" Shawn shouted and finally made his father turn around to him.

"I don´t ask you for a reason." Henry told him. "Because I know that you´re reckless enough to go along with such an insanity."

"I don´t know, Henry." Lassiter chipped in. "Lightly has a point. This guy is interested in him. We could do this. With all precautions of course." he hurried to add with both hands in the air. He´d seen O´Hara´s and chief Vick´s faces. Though it was definitely Henry, whose gaze spoke of murder right now. But for this one, Lassiter seemed to be unreceptive.

"We could wrap this up rather safely, chief." Mary went on. "But if it works, we could take out one of the most dangerous men in crime history."

"I´ll do it." Shawn said with a shrug.

"You won´t." Henry barked but Shawn was looking at chief Vick. When Henry noticed this, he immediately turned to face her. "Karen, I won´t allow that."

"I believe that is my decision." she replied, calm but stern. "And Shawn´s."

"Yeah." Henry snapped, turning to Shawn again. "You won´t do that, kid." he repeated.

"Dad, what can I do?" Shawn asked with a weak grin. "This guy is charmed by my infinite …"

"This guy is a serial killer that eats the brains of his victims." Henry shouted.

"This is not proven." Mary spoke up, his finger raised but this time he ducked down when Henry shot him a deadly glare.

"Even more reason to do this." Shawn picked up his father´s argument, serious now. "We have a chance to stop him. Do you really want us to stay down? Dad?"

"Shawn, if you do that, you damn better really get him. Because if you do that, you´ll challenge him personally and a man like this, will hold a grudge for a lifetime. Not just against you. This guy knows about you. He knows about everyone you care about. If you don´t catch this son of a bitch, kid, you never gonna sleep again."

Shawn´s first instinct following these words, was it to look at Juliet. Gus, who stood right next to her, was his next target. Then came Lassiter but in the end, he wandered back to Juliet. For a moment he saw Raj again. His red eyes and the blankness in his face when he´d walked away from them. As if he was already dead inside. And he couldn´t help but wonder, how he would have felt if it had been Jules who´d been hanging from that bannister.

In this moment, he was close to accept what his father had said and to stay down. But then he saw the expression in Jules´ eyes. There was no fear. Some worry maybe, it was an unclear situation after all, but no fear. She was not afraid of the danger. Of course not. She was a cop. And now that he looked at her, she nodded at him, encouraging him, not to stay down. Not because of her. I´m not afraid, her eyes said. We can beat him.

"I´ll do it." he told Mary and faced his dad again. "We can beat him." he said, using the words he´d read in Juliet´s eyes.

Henry stared at him, as if in shock. But eventually he nodded. "I hope you´re right." he said, the doubt obvious in his voice.

"Don´t worry." Shawn said and gave his dad a slap at the upper arm. He made it intentionally harder than necessary, to show him how less afraid he was. He just hoped Henry would buy it.

"All right, Spencer." Lassiter stepped forward and placed himself between Shawn and Mary, asking the profiler: "So what do we do now?"

It was Shawn who answered him, by taking his cell phone and holding it up.

"I´d say we just wait until he calls me." he said. "I mean, he has my number. He will call me some time."

In this moment the phone started to ring. Shawn and everyone else in the room, jumped at the unexpected ringing. The fake psychic shrieked and threw the phone away as if it had bitten him. Lassiter reached out to grab it. It jumped in his hands and he had to press it against his chest to make it stop, but he made it.

"No number." he said gloomy, after checking the display.

Shawn looked at his father and he saw the same tension in his eyes that he felt himself. Lassiter looked almost worse, if that was even possible. But maybe it was just because Lassie had this thing for piercing death glares. He handed Shawn the phone. Mary was already at the computer again. Shawn swallowed and then answered the call.

"Hello?"

"I can´t talk long this time." Sylar said on the other end. "Come to the pier. A friend of yours will be there."

"What friend?" Shawn asked and flinched when he thought, he´d hear a scream in the background. But then he heard a crashing sound and he realized that Sylar´d just entered a car.

"Nothing more." Sylar said now. "I´ve got to go. Just know that I didn´t want this."

"Wait. What friend?" Shawn cried again but Sylar had already hung up. Shawn looked at Gus. His friend was as scared as he was.

Mary let his shoulders hang in disappointment. The time had been too short to trace the call.

"What did he say?" Lassiter demanded to know.

"He said, I should come to the pier." Shawn swallowed. "I´d find a friend of mine there."

* * *

><p><strong>For all of you who enjoyed the relationship between Sylar and poor Raj´s cousin in the original show, stay on board. The following stories will explore this in much more detail. Just wait for it … you won´t regret it. You´ll know what I mean when you read the first chapter of story # 2<strong>


	4. Sylar

**Sylar**

When the five cars stopped in the parking lot of the Wharf, everything seemed perfectly normal. People were wandering around the beach promenade and over the pier like on every other sunny day. The more surprised some of them reacted, when they noticed the three black and whites that had accompanied Lassiter´s big and Gus´ small blue car. A police presence like that never went by unnoticed. The officers stayed at their cars, waiting for the detectives and their little team to figure out where to go from here.

"Now what, Spencer?" Lassiter asked. They all glanced over the place but none of them could see anything out of the ordinary. Not even Shawn.

"He didn´t say, where I should go at the pier." he told them. "He just said the pier. What´s that supposed to mean, Mary?" he asked the profiler. "What does he want?"

"I don´t know." Mary admitted. "This feels more like improvisation. This isn´t his game."

"He said, he didn´t want this." Shawn recalled while Mary took something out of his pocket that looked like a whistle.

"He didn´t want what?" Lassiter snapped, turning to Mary, startled, when he saw him take the whistle in his mouth.

Mary was blowing into the whistle but there was no sound coming out.

In this moment Shawn noticed a figure that sat on the ground, leaning against the post of the pier´s railing. It was a man. His legs were stretched out, ankles crossed, dark hands resting on his belly as if he was just sitting there and take a nap. A baseball cap was covering his face as if to shade the eyes from the sun. But still Shawn could see the black curly hair under this cap and an awful apprehension creeped up in him. His legs started to run before his mouth had a chance to tell anyone.

When he reached the figure, he fell to his knees, reaching out a hand to take off the cap. But he hesitated. At last he made himself finish the movement and slowly raised the cap off the man´s face.

From one moment to the other, Raj´s face with the bloody stream that ran down his nose and the empty half open eyes, was no guess any longer but cold reality. Shawn closed his eyes. Not because he couldn´t stand to see it. But he had so hoped, it wasn´t him.

"Oh, no." he heard Juliet´s voice behind him and almost the same time, Gus gasped in shock.

Shawn raised the cap a little further. He didn´t want to but he couldn´t stop himself. The hole in the middle of Raj´s head was not bigger than a penny and surprisingly clean, except for the thin stream of blood that had come out of it. Again Shawn had to close his eyes.

"Shot from close distance." Lassiter stated. ".45 revolver I´d say. But that is just a guess."

"Interesting." Mary mumbled.

"Why?" Lassiter asked.

"He shot him, but he didn´t open his head." Mary explained. "Instead he brought him here so we would find him."

"He didn´t want to kill him." Shawn agreed. He hadn´t turned around to them the whole time and he still didn´t do it. Instead he kept looking at Raj´s lifeless eyes, that stared into a distance that no living eyes would ever be able to see.

"What? Are you defending him now?" Lassiter snapped behind him.

"That´s what he said to me on the phone." Shawn explained. "That´s why he brought him here. He wasn´t on his list."

He sighed heavily and took one last look at those empty eyes. He wondered what Raj might have seen before he died. He must have confronted Sylar, that was for sure. That was why he´d killed him. But how? And where? How had Raj found him? If he´d only called him to ask him for help. But then Shawn remembered the look in Raj´s eyes, when he´d left the station. Recalling that, Shawn knew exactly why he hadn´t called for any help.

Juliet went down to crouch next to him. Shawn didn´t look at her though, not even when she lay a hand on his arm. He took a deep breath and finally covered Raj´s face with the cap again. Somewhere in the distance a dog was barking.

"Dammit, Lightly, what the hell are you doing with that thing?" Lassiter cried annoyed.

Now Shawn did turn around. Mary was still blowing into this strange toneless whistle.

"It´s a theory of mine." Mary explained. "The high tone of a dog whistle works on another level of acoustic. Humans might not hear it but our system reacts to it nonetheless. I hope to disturb Sylar´s waves with it, so it will be harder for him to keep his shape."

"Did you finally lose it?" Lassiter snapped.

"I´m sure he´s here, detective." Mary insisted and whistled again. Again somewhere a dog was barking.

"There are no such things as shapeshifters." Lassiter emphasized.

Shawn sighed inwardly and stood up. His gaze fell on a group of people that had started to gather and look. They´d noticed them standing around this motionless figure. Nothing unusual about that. People were always rubbernecking. But there was a guy amongst those people that had started to rub his forehead, as if he had a bad headache.

"Put that thing away and do something useful." Lassite bellowed at Mary.

Again Shawn saw the guy in the crowd wince and turn away, his head buried in his hand. Shawn turned to Mary, who was still whistling that inaudible whistle, stubbornly ignoring Lassiter´s demands.

"I´ll be damned." Shawn whispered and swirled back around, to the crowd.

The guy with the headache was gone but he couldn´t be far away. Shawn searched the area with his eyes until he spotted a man walking away, that looked like the one he´d seen. He was big with broad shoulders and blond brushy hair. He just vanished behind a heap of blue barrels, stored on the pier. Shawn started to run.

"Shawn?" he heard Juliet´s startled voice but he had no time to wait and explain. He was sure that this was Sylar and that he would be gone if he wasn´t fast enough.

He reached the barrels. The guy he´d seen was standing there with his back towards him, his hands on his head, his back bowed as if he had the worst migraine in human history. But that was not all. In the moment, Shawn´s eyes fell on him, his shoulders seemed to shrink. As if they´d been puffed with air pillows or something and somebody had just stitched into them. Only that it didn´t look like this. Not at all. And hadn´t his hair been blond before? Now it was dark.

The man turned around to him and their eyes met. It was Sylar. The same dark face under the black hairline, Shawn had seen projected at the station this morning. The same dark eyes. Something seemed to twitch in his face. As if his eyebrow wasn´t sure if it wanted to stay down or not. His cheek twitched in an obscure kind of aftermath to this. Then his face was totally even again. Shawn found himself frozen dead under the stare of this man. It was as if he could feel the coldness radiating from his dark eyes. For a moment time seemed to have stopped for both of them. Then Shawn could hear the footsteps approaching him.

Sylar was gone as quickly as a cat that was startled by a falling pan, running along the pier without caring who he ran over in the process. Shawn, realizing what had just happened, started to follow. The others caught up with him, Lassiter already wielding his gun. But with all the people around, he couldn´t shoot. That didn´t stop him from yelling though.

„Freeze! S.B.P.D."

People started to scream and ran around wildly to get away from whatever was happening right now. A chaos like the following, was never really helpful when it came to catching a criminal on the run. Lassiter cursed.

Eventually Sylar reached the end of the pier and with that the end of his run. He was looking over the water aimlessly. When they reached him at last, he swirled around, his hand slipping into his pocket.

"Take your hand out of your pocket." Lassiter shouted, aiming at him. "Slowly."

Sylar did as the detective demanded. He was holding a revolver in his hand. So far he was aiming at the ground with it.

"A .45 what did I say?" Lassiter stated. "Throw it away."

This time Sylar did not comply.

"Throw. The gun. Away." Lassiter shouted. "And put your hands in the air."

Sylar looked at Shawn again. There was no change in his face. And then his eyes switched over to Juliet. Shawn saw the movement coming, a second before it happened. He opened his mouth to warn them, but Sylar had already raised his arm and aimed at her.

"No." Shawn cried out but in this moment, Lassiter and Jules both fired their guns.

Sylar was hit in the shoulder and his left arm. He got thrown backwards, against the railing. Shawn stood there, stunned over what had happened, just like all the others. But Sylar was far from beaten. Even though Lassiter had hit his left shoulder, the arm that held the gun, Sylar stood straight again and raised it a second time.

"Don´t do it!" Lassiter yelled but Sylar didn´t listen. Lassiter fired again. This time he hit him in the other shoulder. "Drop it, Douchebag." he demanded.

Still Sylar wouldn´t give up. He was bleeding, his legs were trembling badly but he raised the gun a third time … and was hit a third time. This time Lassiter had aimed for his chest. The murderer stumbled backwards against the railing again. He was still clinging to the revolver in his hand. It was unbelievable but even in this condition, with four holes in his body and swaying legs, he still looked dangerous.

"Drop the gun." Jules said in her typical let´s-be-reasonable tone. She´d flinched at every bullet Lassiter had driven into that guy but now her voice was even and steady. "It´s over." she told him.

Sylar let out a chuckle. There was a small rinse of blood at the corner of his mouth, an indication that Lassiter had hit his lung with his last bullet.

Again Sylar´s eyes found Shawn and it was as if he´d found what he´d been looking for all along. Again he raised his gun. When Lassiter shot him this time, he was thrown backwards violently and then his feet lost the connection to the ground and he fell over the railing, down into the sea.

The six of them rushed to the place where he´d been standing and looked down. They could see him drifting in the water, face down, completely motionless except for the motion of the waves. Lassiter immediately took his cell phone out and called for the coast guard to send someone and collect the body. His next call was to the chief to inform her about what had happened.

Shawn looked around, meeting the eyes of his friends and his father. Except for them, the pier seemed to be abandoned now. It was creepy how silent everything was. They kept watching the body of the dead killer that was rocked up and down by the waves beneath the pier until it started to sink and eventually vanished out of their sight.

"What an ending." Gus commented the sight. No one gave another response to that.

They had no idea how wrong he was.

**...**

When he was back home this evening Shawn was sure that he wouldn´t find any sleep for hours. His thoughts were still spinning around Raj and Mina and how unfair it was that they´d ended like this. He remembered how he´d met them. How Raj had told him that it was his fault Mina had almost been hurt, because he was sure he was cursed.

Back then Shawn had not believed a bit of that and of course he´d been right. No self fulfilling prophesy no matter how strong the believe in the curse was, could stand against a jealous stalker. He´d been happy for them when the case had been solved and everything had seemed to end well for the immortal love of these two.

He´d really been happy for them. He loved happy endings, in movies as well as in real life. But happily ever after hadn´t lasted as long as they´d thought. Not by a long shot. In the end Raj´s curse had caught up with them. Fairytales didn´t always end well as it seemed.

Shawn couldn´t help but wonder if that was the course of the whole world. If the fate of Raj and Mina was the best a couple could hope for these days. A few years of happiness before they were torn out of it forever. He´d seen the eyes of the man that had ended their fairytale in such a cruel way. Was there a Sylar for every couple that hoped for a happily ever after? Or had it been really just Raj´s curse?

These eyes. Shawn could still see them. So dark and cold. Even shot several times and facing his own death, they hadn´t changed. How could a man be so stoic? Did he want to die? Maybe. It wouldn´t be the first time, a serial killer would choose an exit like that. But when he´d looked at him, Shawn had had the feeling as if Sylar had tried to reach out for his mind. Like there were truly such things like mental links in this world. He shivered, remembering that. A mental image like that was strong enough to keep a man awake all night.

Shawn switched off the lights and went to bed. He could at least try. Even if he wouldn´t sleep, he had to lie down and rest. His whole body felt as if he´d tried to run the marathon – several times. It really didn´t matter if he´d stare at the ceiling all night. And he was sure he would.

His head touched the pillow and a few minutes after he´d closed his eyes, he was fast asleep.

He might have been wrong about the falling asleep part. But he´d surely been right about the images that would haunt him all night. They did. Only now they did it in a much stronger way than they ever could have done it, if he´d been awake. Because in dreams you couldn´t just decide to stop thinking about something, when it got too bad. In dreams the images had their own life and their own will. In dreams the dead could be alive and haunt the living.

Shawn saw Sylar´s eyes, again and again. The man looked at him. He was standing at the end of the pier, bleeding from at least a dozen shot wounds, as if Lassie had tried to shoot him with an MP. Only in this dream, there was no Lassie and none of the others who´d been there. It was only him and Sylar. And Sylar would just refuse to die, no matter how many times Shawn shot him. He would just stand there and take one bullet after the other, without so much as flinching at the impacts. And his eyes. His eyes wouldn´t change, not a single time. He was still looking at him with this disturbing interest.

_Let´s just say, you fascinate me. _

In his dream Shawn heard these words in his head as if he and Sylar were linked in their minds. Like in a Vulcan mind meld. Those eyes.

He couldn´t stand it any longer and aimed at Sylar´s face. He wanted him to stop looking at him. Those eyes. If he could just shut those eyes. His bullets were hitting Sylar´s forehead, his cheek, his nose. But still he wouldn´t stop looking at him. Shawn did his best to hit his eyes but somehow he couldn´t. Usually he never missed his target. He was a good shooter and no matter how long he´d had no practice, usually he never missed what he aimed for. But in his dream, he just couldn´t hit those eyes.

Sylar´s face was bloody and distorted but the look in those eyes didn´t change. And then after Shawn had finally given up trying, the holes he´d shot into this face, started to close themselves. The blood was still there but the wounds were closing.

"_Give it up, Shawn."_ Sylar said without moving his lips. _"You can´t kill me. No one can."_

And then he raised his hand, aiming at him with his index finger as if he wanted to shoot him with it. _"Let me see what´s in your head."_ he said and this time his voice echoed in Shawn´s mind like thunder.

Somewhere in the background he could hear a man screaming. But it wasn´t a scream of pain or fear. It was far from that. It was more like calling. Or even singing. But Shawn couldn´t understand the words the man was calling. It was a foreign language, he didn´t speak.

He turned his head to his right and there was a church at the beach. A Muslim church. In his dream it seemed totally normal that it was there. Shawn didn´t question that fact. The man he heard was standing on the tower. His calling mixed with Sylar´s thundering words inside of Shawn´s head until he thought his head must explode. He could feel pain tearing on his forehead when Sylar´s finger touched his temple.

Shawn screamed and tried to hit out, but there was something that was holding him in place. Something that was tangled around him like ropes. He tried to get free from it. He struggled and screamed and finally he realized that it was his own blanket he was fighting. He was lying in his bed.

He stopped struggling and listened for a moment. A moment where he could only hear his own pounding heart and his heavy breaths. He was covered in sweat. The room was still dark and Shawn hurried to switch on the nightlight. Finally the remains of the dream vanished into the dark, where they belonged, chased off by the blessing light. God, what a nightmare.

Shawn sat up and wiped his hand over his sweat covered face. His heart was still pounding but it was slowing down. Slowly he was calming down. And then his phone started to ring, the shrieking noise filling the silent room violently.

Shawn flinched but his hand shot forward to pick his cell phone up almost instantly. The display showed an unknown number and Shawn felt a knot building up in his throat. Was it possible? They´d seen him die. He´d drifted several minutes in the water before he´d sunk. He was dead. No one survived five bullets out of Lassie´s gun and drifting face down in the water for so long. He was dead. Had to be. And still, seeing this message unknown number on his display, gave Shawn the creeps. With shaking fingers he pressed the answer button.

"Hello?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

"Shawn, it´s me." the thin voice of Mary Lightly answered him.

"Mary." Shawn sighed and let himself fall back on his bed. "Dammit, man, you scared the living crap out of me."

"I´m sorry, Shawn." Mary said. "I just wanted to make sure that you´re all right."

Shawn sat up again, alarmed. "What do you mean, if I´m all right? Why shouldn´t I?"

"The coast guard just reported that they didn´t find Sylar´s body." Mary told him. "Detective Lassiter says it´s because of the tide but I´m not so sure."

Shawn sighed again, finally releasing the breath he´d held until now. "Mary." he said. "I don´t say that very often, but Lassie´s right. Sylar is dead. We all saw him die."

Without him wanting it, Shawn saw the eyes from his dream again. Those cold eyes that stared at him out of the bloody and shattered face. Eyes that wouldn´t blink even while dying.

"I know it´s hard for you to let a man go, you spent so much time with." Shawn told Mary now, trying to sound nonchalant and joking. "But you´ll find another hobby."

"You saw him before any of us did." Mary recalled eagerly. "Did you see it happen? Did you see him change?"

Shawn didn´t answer at once. He saw again what he´d seen yesterday at the pier when he´d caught up with Sylar. His shoulders that seemed to shrink. And then his face, twitching as if attacked by spasms. And those cold eyes. The same eyes like in his dream.

"I didn´t see anything, Mary." Shawn said and then remembered something again. Also from his dream.

There´d been a church in his dream. No, not a church. How did they call that? The church the Muslims went to? He´d seen one of them at the beach in his dream. What a strange image. But as usual in the dream it had looked completely normal, as long as the dream had lasted. The guy on the tower had called out, he remembered. How were they called? Mozzie? Muzzie? Something like that.

"I believe you mean a muezzin." Mary said, startling him out of his thoughts. "He calls the parish to prayer."

"Was I just talking out loud?" Shawn asked.

"You did." Mary affirmed. "Why were you asking about that?"

"Oh, no reason." Shawn said. "Just had a dream about this M... guy."

"Muezzin."

"Yeah."

"Dreams are messages from the subconsciousness." Mary told him. "Maybe your subconsciousness tries to tell you something."

"Probably that a confession is long overdue." Shawn replied. "Listen. Mary. I´m touched by your concern. But I´m fine. And Sylar is dead. Let it go."

"Maybe you´re right." Mary admitted.

"Sure I am. Listen. I have one hell of a headache. I´ll hit the hay for another hour or so."

"All right. Sorry that I woke you." "You didn´t." Shawn assured him. "Bye."

After he´d hung up it was strangely silent in his room. He even heard a ringing tone inside of his head. So he stood up and went to his window. When he opened the curtains he found that it wasn´t as dark outside than he´d thought. In fact it was pretty bright already. He opened the window to hear some noises from the street and it helped a little. Still he felt as if he hadn´t slept a bit. One half of his mind was still sleeping. But he was sure that it was no use to try to go back to bed.

He had no intention of getting the dream back anyway. In some way Mary had done him a favor. Without that call he might have fallen asleep again and he was not sure if that ´would have been such a good thing.

He went to the bathroom to take a shower. It was strange that he could remember his dream so vividly and in so much detail. Usually he forgot most of his dreams after he woke up. There were only a few occasions that he could recall when he´d remembered it so clearly after waking up. They´d always been weird and in these cases where he could remember them, they truly had – as Mary said – told him something important, or at least given him a hunch. But this time something else had added itself to these facts. And that was the terror he´d felt in the dream. The terror and the fear he´d felt by looking into those dark eyes of a dead man.

Shawn raised his hand and touched his forehead, recalling the feeling of his skin tearing open. It was weird. As weird as this muezzin guy calling out in his dream. Where the hell had that come from? Everything else he could explain but that? If it was supposed to be some kind of religious symbol, shouldn´t it be a Christian church in his dream? Not that he was a strong believer but a Christian church belonged more in his cultural background than a mosque.

Was it because of Raj? Had the Indians to do with the Muslim church? He was not sure. He didn´t know very much about stuff like that. Gus would know. He´d ask him as soon as he was done with his breakfast, which would contain a bowl of cereals and a coffee. More he wouldn´t manage right now. The dream seemed to have taken away his appetite.

He started to munch it without much effort. Halfway through the bowl he decided that he had enough already and put it aside. And suddenly he knew why he´d dreamed about a calling muezzin.

It had nothing to do with subconscious symbols or anything like that. It was just the good old memory that had found its way into his dream. He´d heard that call the day before. He´d heard it without realizing it. He´d mistaken it with a scream of someone because he´d talked to Sylar in this moment. But it hadn´t been a scream. It had been a clue.

Sylar must have been near a mosque when he´d called him. But what did that tell him? He knew Sylar had killed Raj. He knew Raj had tried to kill Sylar. That meant somehow Raj must have traced Sylar down. Maybe at his home? Had he killed him there? It would make sense. But no. It could have happened everywhere. But it did make sense that Sylar would have called him from the place where it had happened. He´d heard him enter a car, that indicated that he´d not been at the beach then.

Sylar had called him and told him where he would go before he actually went there. So Raj might have died near a mosque. If Shawn couldn´t find Sylar´s home with that, then at least the place where the crime had been committed. Maybe he could find a clue there, that could lead him to … Yeah, to what? What was he hoping to find with that? Sylar was dead. But maybe there were things in his apartment the FBI would be interested to see. Who knew? Maybe Mary would be happy to dismantle the apartment of his serial killer and document it in detail.

Maybe there were clues in Sylar´s apartment that led to unsolved cases. There were many possibilities that would justify a look. And none of them contained a possibility that Sylar might still be alive. Because he wasn´t. They´d seen him die. And Shawn was convinced about that.

And if he truly believed that – the only reasonable thing that there was to believe, by the way – he had no damn reason to be afraid of going there. It was part of his job to bring the case home, even after the suspect was dead if necessary. And in some way he owed it to Raj to solve the case conclusively.

It was just a hunch, for God´s sake. No reason to freak out because of that. He´d just go there and have a look. If he found something he could tell Mary that his dream had led him there and in some way this would even be true.

Before he could change his mind once again, he took his jacket and helmet and went out. He wouldn´t accomplish anything by sitting around and wonder about impossible things. Mary might be funny enough to believe in things like shapeshifters but that didn´t mean that he had to. He wouldn´t let this get up in his head and even keep him from doing his job. Not just because of a bad dream.


	5. Shawn

**Shawn**

He´d tried to call Gus, but didn´t reach him. Gus had turned off his cell phone and since he only did this when being in a meeting, Shawn knew he wouldn´t get him on the phone for at least a few more hours. But waiting a few more hours was not an option. If he wanted to check this out, he´d find someone else who could tell him where to find a mosque in Santa Barbara.

An info-point for tourists was the easiest solution, and as it turned out, the mosque was not so far away than he´d expected. But on the other hand, didn´t that make even more sense? If Sylar really had called him before he drove off to the beach, it couldn´t have been that far away. They´d only needed twenty minutes to get there and he must have been at least a few minutes faster.

Shawn found the mosque rather quickly. But that was not the only thing he found in that street. He spotted it almost instantly and it almost made him turn around and drive back home or to the police station, to get Jules and Lassie to come here with him. But he pulled himself together, reminding himself once more of how ridiculous it was to feel that way. Like someone who was spooked by his own shadow.

There was nothing to be afraid of. The serial killer was dead. He was not here to chase Sylar. He was here to find the last remaining parts of the puzzle. And this was one of them. Though he hadn´t expected to find it here, it sure was a very rich piece.

It was Raj´s car. A white Nissan Quasquai and it was parked at the curbside before an apartment-house. Shawn parked his bike behind it and looked the car over. There was nothing unusual about the car itself. Only that it belonged to a man that would never come back here to get it. There was a ticket under the wiper but that was the only thing that indicated anything out of the ordinary.

Shawn went to the drivers side and tried the door. It wasn´t locked. Obviously Raj had had other things on his mind than the safety of his car, when he´d left it. Shawn tried not to think about what he might have seen and failed. It was almost impossible to get those things out of his mind.

He sat behind the wheel and looked out. The front door of the apartment-house was exactly in his field of vision. There was no doubt. Raj had been sitting here, waiting for Sylar. This house must be the place where he´d rented an apartment. Dear god, had this guy planned to stay in Santa Barbara? It was good that he was dead. Shawn didn´t want to imagine how it would have been to live with a twisted killer like him always lurking in the shadow of the next corner.

He spotted a piece of paper on the dashboard and picked it up. It read: Third floor, App. 403. So Raj had really known where Sylar had had his accommodation. Had he also been up there? Shawn looked up at the front of the building, wondering which window was the right one. Third floor. Apartment 403. Was that the place where Raj had died? Or had it happened somewhere out here? In the backyard? In an allay? There was a way to find out.

What was he waiting for? He even had the number. He didn´t need anything else. Just a quick look around in there and he would have everything he needed to provide Lassie and Jules with enough information to successfully fake a vision and then Mary could take over that damn place. But what if he would find the brains up there? The brains Sylar had taken from his victims. What if …?

He got out of the car and walked over to the building. There was no use in thinking about stuff like that. Too much thinking could keep you from doing the really funny things. That was the reason why he usually avoided to think too much. Strange that it was such a hard job this time. Usually it wasn´t hard at all. Quite the contrary. But in this case …

He reached the front door and stopped, thinking. How could he get in now? Maybe ringing the bell? Pizza delivery? Not very original.

All the sudden, he noticed an old woman, sitting at her window, watching him. She had some creepy qualities. The way she stared at him with her peeking eyes and her grim face. The fact that it was a cloudy day only supported this feeling. Shawn smiled at her awkwardly but she didn´t smile back.

"I uhm … I wanted to visit a friend." he told her, pointing at the door. "But he´s late and … Could you … open the door for me?"

"How am I supposed to know if you´re telling the truth, sonny?" she snapped. "You could be a salesman who tries to sell stupid magazine subscriptions to old ladies."

"I assure you I´m not a salesman." Shawn said, relieved that she´d spoken to him. "My friend just moved in. He lives in apartment 403. You know, tall guy, black hair."

Now she seemed to believe him. "This man is not a good company to be with." she said. "You should look for better friends."

"No argument here." Shawn chuckled but before he could go on, she talked right over him.

"Another young man looked for him the other day." she said. "He carried him out later on. Said he was drunk. But I think he killed him and buried him somewhere in the ditch."

For a moment, Shawn didn´t know what to say. This old lady had been dead right about this.

"Did you … did you call the police about that?" he asked.

The old lady made a disgusted sound and waved her hand. "Never listen to anyone, who tells´em the truth." she said. "They didn´t believe me either when I told´em my other neighbor Mr. Castelli was the head of the drug mafia. They said he was not suspicious, just because he´s eighty-three. But he doesn´t fool me."

Shawn nodded. "I see." he said. It was a gigantic joke. A paranoid old lady like her and for a change she truly was right about one of her neighbors.

"You see." he went on. "The truth is, I owe my friend some money and I would prefer it to shove it under his door and get away before he gets home."

The old woman looked up for a moment, probably to the window of apartment 403. Then she sighed and nodded.

"All right, I let you in. But you better hurry. He usually comes back around ten. Then he stays till two p.m. and leaves until seven p.m. Sometimes he goes out at night too but I sleep when he comes back then. God knows what a naughty job he does to have working times like that."

He won´t come back at ten today, Shawn thought but didn´t say it. Though he threw a look at his watch when he entered the house. It was quarter to ten. He wondered if Gus´ meeting was over by now. Maybe he should try to call him. But for what reason? He´d already found the mosque. And more.

He would first have a look around and then he´d call him. Or better, he´d call Jules and tell her what he´d found. In a vision of course. No need to drop this opportunity. In this case he maybe should call Mary instead. He already knew about his dream. But he´d think about that later. Now he had to think about how he could get into the apartment.

It didn´t look like a very solid door but it was locked and Shawn wasn´t much of a door breaker. But then he noticed the damage in the frame, around the lock. This must be Raj´s work, Shawn mused. If he´d managed that, maybe he could too. The damage he´d cause, was something he could blame on Raj´s entry.

So he took a step back and raised his foot. He kicked the door and it moved a little. He kicked it again and it moved more. With the third kick it finally opened. Someone at the end of the hall peeked out of his apartment. An old man. Shawn smiled at him apologetically.

"Lost my key." he said and hurried to get in.

He closed the door behind himself and looked around, hoping the old man wouldn´t call the cops on him. He saw the spot on the floor at once. Blood. Somebody (Sylar) had tried to clean it out of the carpet but had only succeeded partly. It wasn´t big but it was enough to let Shawn feel the shock again.

He didn´t close his eyes this time but he couldn´t help the sigh that escaped him. So it had been here, all right. Poor Raj. He didn´t deserve to go like that. Neither did Mina. But things were done and that was something no one could make undone. The only thing he could do was to solve the rest of this mystery.

So he started to walk around the place. It was a usual apartment, with usual furniture and no brains that were stored in jars full of liquid. One could almost forget that there was a serial killer living in this place. The blood on the floor was really the only indication that somebody had been killed here.

Shawn was just about to leave the bedroom again, when he stopped and went back. It was just an idea that he might find something under the mattress but sometimes one got lucky. And he got lucky. There was a binder under the mattress. The label was written in pencil and it read: Heroes.

Shawn frowned and opened the book. It turned out to be nothing but a list of names, as if it was an address book. But instead of telephone numbers, there were other things written behind those names – things that sounded like magical abilities. Rapid cellular regeneration, lie detection, eidetic memory (behind this one was a note that read: delayed; whatever that was supposed to mean), shapeshifting, disintegration and stuff like that. It was like reading a list of Superman and all the other superheroes and their true identities. The names didn´t ring any bell in Shawn´s head but they were all crossed out, so it was pretty easy to assume that they were all dead. So Sylar truly had a list. A list of his victims. But how the hell did he chose them?

The first one on this list gave him a hunch. Brian Davis. Wasn´t that the guy Mary had named as Sylar´s first known victim? Behind his name was written the word Telekinesis. Dammit. What the hell was this guy? Did Sylar really believe all these people had had those abilities? The label Heroes on the cover surely indicated it. And of course he´d told Shawn on the phone that he´d thought Mina …

Shawn immediately turned some pages until he found it. Indeed. There she was. The last crossed out name. Written behind her stood Audio-Cellular Regeneration. She was not the last one on the list though. There were some more. None of them was known to Shawn.

He had to close the book. It was unbelievable how many names it contained. All people that were now dead. Killed by that psychopath. Shawn needed to take a deep breath. Now at least Mary would know exactly how many victims there really were. And he had enough to lead them here too.

He shoved the binder back under the mattress and turned around to leave the apartment. He had to get out of here. This place started to creep him out. He threw a look at his watch. It was five to ten. No reason to be in a hurry. He just wanted to get out of here. Outside the sky had clouded over even more now and as a result of that, the apartment seemed darker. Creepier.

He was almost back in the living room, when something caught his eye. A curtain at the end of the hallway. Shawn hesitated. Should he look behind that? Maybe that was the place where Sylar kept the brains after all. Without noticing it, he threw another look at his watch. But then he turned back and approached the curtain.

He had to steel himself before he could open it though. Then he reached for the curtains and opened them – with his eyes closed, just in case. Carefully he opened them to peek at the gruesome stuff that might be there. When he realized that there was nothing, he blinked, confused. It was dark in the hallway, that was why he needed a moment to realize, the important thing here was not the space behind the curtain. It was the walls.

"Forgive Me." Shawn read it out loud. "Talking about twisted minds, hm?" He frowned when he realized that he was talking to himself. "Man, I need to get out of here." he said and closed the curtains again.

On his way out, he took his cell phone. He didn´t care if he was still in here. He´d call Jules now. No, wait. Mary. He´d wanted to call Mary because he knew about the dream. Or should he start with Gus, just for good measure? But as it turned out, he wouldn´t reach anyone in here. His cell showed him that it was missing a connection. Something in here seemed to disturb the signal. Damn had this guy also isolated his apartment like a paranoid that was afraid of aliens?

Shawn went to the window, hoping to get a signal there. He did but only for a second. Cursing he moved the phone around, to find the spot again. Outside it had started to rain. At the edge of his perception he noticed that down in the street, someone parked a car.

A man got out. When Shawn focused on him, he froze. He was sure it was Sylar, even though he could only see the man´s umbrella. But for a second he´d seen his face. No, Shawn thought. That was impossible. Sylar was dead. This man must be another guy that just looked like him. But then the man on the street that wasn´t Sylar, spotted Shawn´s motorcycle and looked up – directly into Shawn´s eyes.

Shawn flinched away from the window. It was Sylar. Shit, it really was Sylar. How the hell was that possible? He was supposed to be dead. Shawn looked at his watch again and it was exactly ten a.m. Like the old lady had said. Shit. Oh, shit, it really was Sylar. Shawn wanted to run but he tried to run in at least three directions the same time. He considered to call Lassie and Jules for help and remembered that the cell wasn´t connected. At last he dived for the door, to get out before Sylar (that was impossible, he was dead) could come in.

He tore the door open, ready to rush out and hide somewhere … but Sylar was already standing there, leaning against the frame, as if he´d been waiting there for him all along. How the hell did he come up here so fast, Shawn thought.

Sylar was just looking at him. Oh, god, those eyes.

"Hello, Psychic." he greeted him.

**...**

Gus checked his cell phone, right after leaving the office of Dr. Argosi. He could see that Shawn had tried to reach him earlier and thanked God that he´d had the precaution to switch off his phone. A disturbance like that would have been quite embarrassing.

But now the meeting was over and he could afford to hear what his friend wanted.

He pushed the speed dial button and waited. The phone went straight to voice mail. Shawn must have switched his own phone off.

For a moment Gus wondered why he would do that. But then he decided that he might have his reasons. So he just left a message, asking Shawn what he´d wanted. After he´d done that, he got back into his car and drove off, to his next appointment.

**...**

It wasn´t necessary for Sylar to reach out his hand to shove Shawn back into the apartment. Alone his gaze was enough and Shawn backed up all on his own. Now he was standing face to face with a man that couldn´t possibly be here (because he was dead) and tried to figure out a way to get through that now hermetically closed door, without getting hurt too much.

This guy (he couldn´t be here, he was supposed to be dead, eaten up by sharks) was a killer after all. Not that it was the first time Shawn was face to face with a murderer. He was in this kind of situation quite often. But usually these guys had a right to still be alive. This one on the other hand …

Sylar didn´t seem to be angry about the fact that he found Shawn in his apartment. Quite the contrary. He was smiling at this discovery. Sort of. He shook his umbrella and then placed it in the corner to dry there, as if it was completely normal that a guy broke into his apartment. But considering the blood spot on the carpet, Shawn mused, this might not be so far off. It had happened before, so why should he be surprised?

"You´ve been waiting here for me." he stated with a tiny smile that made Shawn´s blood curl. "I must say I didn´t expect that."

"Same here." Shawn replied. "I didn´t expect to see you again either."

Now Sylar truly smiled, even chuckled. "No, I guess not." he admitted.

"How is that possible?" Shawn asked. "I saw you die."

"You saw me getting shot."

Shawn shook his head. "No." he said. "You drifted in the water. You sank. You were dead."

"I see."

"How did you do it? Was it just faked blood? Did you wear a bulletproofed vest? What? Or was it not you at all? Did Lassie shoot someone else instead? Do you have a twin brother?"

Again Sylar chuckled amused. "You really have some kind of humor." he said. "Maybe I could get something from you after all."

"What do you mean?" Shawn asked, now close to freak out. "By eating my brain?"

At this Sylar suddenly looked surprised, almost shocked. "Is that what they say about me?" he asked. "That I eat them?"

"You don´t?" Shawn asked, skipping back a little more.

Sylar followed him, gazing at him intensely with those dark haunting eyes. "Shawn." he said. "That´s disgusting."

Eventually his eyes finally let go of Shawn and he walked past him to hang his jacket on the coat-tree. Shawn watched him closely but Sylar had his back turned to him. The door seemed in reasonable range and Shawn couldn´t remember hearing the sound of a lock snapping in, when Sylar had closed the door. So he decided to take his chance and dived for the door.

His hands closed around the handle and pressed it down. But nothing happened. The door was locked. When had he locked it? He hadn´t even looked at the door when he´d come in. How the hell could it be locked?

He turned back around and saw Sylar standing there, watching him patiently. Those eyes. Shawn´s hands pressed against the wood of the door, as if he could phase himself through it by pure willpower. Of course this didn´t happen.

"How can you still be alive?" he asked again. "How could you survive after losing so much blood?"

Sylar chuckled. "Oh, that." he said. "That was just for show." When Shawn refused to laugh about his joke, he added: "I thought Mary Lightly told you about my abilities."

"You mean the story about the shapeshifting? I didn´t know that super healing powers ala Wolverine is a part of that too. How did this come? In a family size package? Did you collect bonus points and got an additional gift?"

"You are quite a doubter, aren´t you?" Sylar said. "But that´s okay. I would doubt it too if I were you."

Shawn looked around uneasy, swallowing dryly. "What are you gonna do now?" he asked.

"Well, I don´t know." Sylar said. "Why don´t you tell me, Psychic?"

Shawn tried to overcome his fear of those eyes and tried to read in them. It wasn´t easy though. He had to be careful what to say. Maybe there was a way of talking himself out of this. He just had to get through to that guy. Somehow.

"Why did you call me to tell me where I´d find Raj?" he asked. "You had no reason to do this."

"You think so?"

"And then staying to watch us find him? For what reason? For the kick of it?"

"This had nothing to do with it." Sylar said. "I don´t need to do things like that to get my kick, believe me."

"Then why?" Shawn kept asking. "You must have known that we´d spot you there. Why risking that?"

"I had my reasons." Sylar claimed and for a moment it seemed as if he felt uncomfortable.

"Let me guess." Shawn said, collecting all his bravery. "You wanna die. That´s why you waited there until we saw you."

Sylar glared at him. "You have no idea what I want."

"I don´t?" Shawn asked and put his hand to his temple. "I sense a strong longing for power in you. Supernatural powers. That´s the reason why you killed all those people."

"I thought you don´t believe in that, Psychic." Sylar asked, emphasizing the word psychic strongly.

Shawn hesitated. He had the unnerving feeling that this guy didn´t believe in him being a psychic. Not at all. But how …? He believed in all that other stuff. He´d believed that Mina had some supernatural powers, for cry out loud. How could he refuse to believe in his ability?

He looked into his eyes (those dark frightening eyes) and it was like looking into the eyes of a predator that got ready to attack.

"You are completely surrounded." Shawn claimed in his desperation. If he could just convince Sylar that he was not alone, that there were police units all around the building, ready to come in here as soon as he cried for help, he might get out of this alive. "There is no way out of this for you." he said. "No matter what you do, you are going to prison."

Again Sylar chuckled and turned away from him. Shawn had to restrain the urge to try the door again, despite his better knowledge that it was still locked. Tensed as hell, he watched Sylar how he walked over to the couch and sat down, absolutely placid.

"You clearly thought all of this through, haven´t you?" he said in a tone of undeniable irony, throwing Shawn a look full of condescension. "Except for the part where you can´t catch your guy."

"I won." Shawn insisted. "I beat you. That was the deal. Now you should have enough decency to surrender."

Sylar made a face as if he needed to think this over for a moment. When he glanced back up at Shawn, he looked like someone who was talking to a stupid kid.

"You chased a shapeshifter." he stated matter of factly and then, as if that was common sense: "You don´t chase a shapeshifter."

Shawn was about to say something when Sylar suddenly produced a gun from out of his pocket and pointed it at him. He immediately froze, staring at the muzzle.

"I didn´t know that shapeshifting also meant materializing things." he said.

Sylar smirked. "You´d be surprised." he said.

Shawn just opened his mouth to give a response but in this moment Sylar had already pulled the trigger. The fake psychic tried to jump aside but he was too slow. Two bullets hit his shoulder and his upper arm. It was more the shock than the pain that threw Shawn to the ground. The pain wasn´t even there yet. Not at once.

But when he looked up at the ceiling and realized what just happened, he could feel it. The heat that started to creep down his flesh, deep into his body where the bullet had found its way in. He could also feel the warm liquid floating out of him. A moment later Sylar´s face was over him. He was cowering next to him, a look of total indifference on his face. He reached out his hand for Shawn and touched one of his wounds, wetting his finger with his blood.

Shawn cried out in pain but Sylar didn´t seem to notice. He just withdrew his finger, now red with blood and brought it to his mouth. Shawn felt the need to vomit when he saw him lick it off, as if it was chocolate. Sylar looked down on him and smiled.

"There truly is something about you." he said. "I think I´d like to try this out for a while."

"You really think killing me is going to solve your problems?" Shawn managed to ask.

"The reason why I started watching you, is pretty simple." Sylar said.

"I know." Shawn interrupted him. "I fascinate you. Don´t bother with that. I went down that road before. Nothing original about this."

"Okay." Sylar said. "But how about this? No wait, you´ll like this. It´s true, I started with you. And I still think that there is something about you, don´t get me wrong. But somewhere on the way, I couldn´t help but realized that I´d aimed for the wrong target."

"Man, you got that right." Shawn groaned, pressing his hand against the wound. "Just a little late."

Sylar just chuckled and went on: "You see, I thought if you truly were psychic like Mina believed, I would have gotten some interesting new power from you. But that turned out to be the wrong track. Instead it was something else I found. Some_one_ else."

Shawn´s eyes widened at this. Sylar just nodded.

"You know I used to earn my living by figuring out how systems work." he said. "These used to be watches of course but my ability also works for other kinds of systems. I was watching you. And I found that there is a system here that is really interesting. It´s unique. The only one of its kind. At least it´s the first one of this kind that I ever found so far. A system like this …" he shook his head in amazement. "Who wouldn´t want to live in it?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shawn asked.

"I´m talking about something special." Sylar said. "You are a part of this. No, let me rephrase that. You were part of this. But don´t worry. No one is gonna miss you. I´ll fill out your part just fine."

Shawn could just stare at this guy, shaking his head. "You are insane." he said, knowing very well that it might be a bad idea to insult a guy that was standing over you with a gun in his hand. "You can´t just take over my place. You really think no one is gonna notice the difference? You must be out of your mind."

Instead of answering him, Sylar just kept looking down on him with this strange smile on his lips. After a while, it seemed as if he was not looking at him but through him. Then the look in his eyes changed and for a moment Shawn thought that Sylar was the one who´d throw up. There was a convulsion that seemed to run through the man and Shawn already prepared himself for some nasty business. But instead of throwing up, Sylar did something else.

He closed his eyes, swaying a little and then there was another convulsion. The next thing Shawn saw, made him think he´d started to see things, because of the shock and the blood loss. Sylar´s face was changing. It literally shifted from one form to the next and when he looked down at Shawn again, it was his own face that was looking at him.

"Pretty impressive, isn´t it?" Sylar asked with a voice that wasn´t his.

Shawn could just stare at him with an open mouth and shake his head. That was impossible. Simply impossible. His own face was smiling down on him now. Shawn had never thought, he could look so creepy. But now he did.

"This is impossible." Shawn mumbled barely able to articulate himself. "You can´t be me."

"Oh, I´m not gonna be you." Sylar/Shawn replied. "I´m gonna be better than you."

And with that he aimed his gun at Shawn once again, this time aiming for his heart. The shot rang out like thunder and the impact in his chest threw Shawn even deeper into the ground. He rolled around to his side and then lay still.

Sylar didn´t stay much longer to examine his work. He turned around and left. There was plenty of time to clean up later. Now he was eager to experience and fill out the new life he would have now.


	6. Gus

**Gus**

When Gus got out of his car in front of the police station, he checked his cell phone for maybe the tenth time. Shawn still hadn´t called and when he tried to reach him, he again only got the voice mail. What the hell did this mean? He´d looked for him at the Psych office and at his apartment. He hadn´t been there. The police station was the last place Gus knew to look for him, except for Henry´s house.

But he really couldn´t think of any reason why Shawn should be there. Henry was at work and even if Shawn would have a reason to go to his father´s house without him being there, why should he switch off his cell phone? It didn´t make any sense. Especially not this week. They´d agreed to meet for the convention right after Gus´ shift was over. Every day. Shawn would never switch off his cell phone this week, except he´d have a very good reason.

Gus just hoped this reason would have something to do with police business. A meeting perhaps. Something where chief Vick had made him switch the phone off. It just had to be something like that. Shawn wouldn´t switch it off if he had a choice. Only the chief could make him switch it off. Or Henry maybe. But no one else.

Gus hurried into the police station. He tried to make himself walk slowly. There was no reason to freak out just because Shawn didn´t answer his phone. Gus was sure there was a totally rational explanation for that. He cursed in silence. It was only Mary´s fault that he was so on the edge because of nothing. If he hadn´t started with all that crappy talk about supernatural guys and shapeshifting criminals, Gus wouldn´t be so damn worried. He´d rather be angry with Shawn that he failed to show up in time for the convention. He´d promised it, dammit.

He hurried along the hall, heading for the bullpen. Halfway to it Henry crossed his way and Gus exhaled in relief.

"Gus." Henry greeted, startled about his exhausted expression. "What´s the matter?"

"Mr. Spencer. I … Do you know where Shawn is? He´s late for our trip to the convention."

"Gee, no I haven´t seen him since yesterday." Henry said.

"So he´s not here? Are you sure?"

"Of course, I´m sure." Henry chuckled. "What´s the matter?"

"I can´t reach him on his phone. I tried. Several times. But I only get the voice mail."

Now Henry´s face went contemplative.

"He tried to call me once this morning." Gus went on. "But I had my phone switched off because I was in a meeting. After that, I couldn´t reach him."

"When did he call you?"

"At …" Gus took his phone out and checked. "Nine seven."

"That was five hours ago." Henry stated.

"I know."

"Hey." Juliet´s voice greeted behind them. "What´s going on?"

"Have you seen Shawn?" Henry asked her without explanation. "Or heard from him?"

"No. Why?"

"He´s missing." Gus immediately blurred out.

"We … We didn´t say that yet." Henry objected. "You weren´t able to reach him. That´s nothing new."

"But we wanted to go to the con." Gus argued. "He was more excited about it than I was."

"That´s true." Juliet agreed, remembering their breakfast at the diner, a day earlier.

"All right, but that doesn´t mean that he´s in trouble." Henry insisted. "The boy runs away all the time without telling us where he goes."

"But not during the Transformers-Convention." Gus stated, almost whining.

"What is it with you guys and these transformator thingies?" Henry asked.

"Transformers."

"Whatever."

Juliet hurried to speak up, to bring the talk back around to the point. "If Shawn´s really missing then maybe we should …"

"Shawn´s missing?" a thin voice interrupted her. Mary had appeared behind her, seemingly from out of nowhere. He looked from one of them to the other with worried eyes.

"Oh, no." he said, mostly encouraged by Gus´ look. "I knew it. I told him to be careful."

"What did you know?" Henry barked. "What is this fool doing this time?"

"I told him to lock himself in a cell." Mary explained. "Because I knew that Sylar would come for him, to steal his gift."

"Mary." Juliet groaned, closing her eyes. "Not again."

"Sylar is dead. We all saw him die yesterday at the pier." Henry agreed, more impatient than she was.

"I´ll never believe that Sylar´s dead until I see his body." Mary said. "And maybe not even then."

"What is it that you´re so obsessed with this guy?" Henry snapped.

"Since I work on his case, I´ve seen things that would blow a normal human´s mind." Mary said.

"It obviously has." Henry agreed.

"Hey, what´s this?" Lassiter cried from farther ahead and came over to them. "There a meeting I overlooked? What´s going on?"

"Lassiter, have you heard from Shawn?" Gus asked, grateful that he could come back to the point.

"Fortunately not." Lassiter answered.

"This isn´t funny." Gus snapped. "We have no idea where he is and slowly I start to freak out with all that talking about Sylar and eaten brains and all that …"

"Hey, hey, keep it down, Guster." Lassiter interrupted him startled. "Maybe you should take a vacation. You really don´t look good."

"My best friend´s missing and that right after a case that involved braineating shapeshifters." Gus cried. "I think I have a right to be concerned."

"God, did he convince you to believe that crap too?" Lassiter rolled his eyes at Mary. "Now I´m sure you need a vacation."

"I´m just saying." Gus tried to explain himself. "I´m a little on the edge after what happened yesterday. I think that´s understandable."

"Of course it is." Juliet agreed and gave her partner a warning look to better shut his mouth.

"A friend of ours died yesterday, don´t forget that." Gus recalled.

Lassiter snorted silently. "You barely knew the man." he said.

"No reason to be irreverent." a totally unexpected voice spoke up behind them.

Gus swirled around. "Shawn!" he cried. "Where have you been? I tried to reach you."

He got a frown for this statement. "You did?"

"Yes. You called me this morning and I tried to call you back. But I only got voice-mail. Since when are you switching off your cell phone?"

"I was … at a funeral." Shawn told him. "And I didn´t want it to ring there."

"Funeral?" Juliet asked. "Whose funeral?"

Shawn looked at her for a moment. His face was lacking the usual smirk that was always in his eyes. Instead he looked calm and a little sad.

"Raj." he answered her question.

"But his body is still in the morgue." Juliet was confused.

"I know." Shawn said. "It was a prefuneral ceremony, his family did. They asked me to attempt and I didn´t want to disappoint them."

The group was silent for a moment. Shawn nodded. "Being at this funeral made me think about some things." he said. "Mainly about my own life and … how grateful we all should be for what we have. That we have each other."

"Shawn." Gus said with a confused frown. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Of course, I do." Shawn replied. "I mean … is it wrong to contemplate your life after you saw a man like Raj die?"

"No." Gus said, almost feeling guilty. "It´s just …"

"It´s just that we´re not used to you being contemplative." Lassiter said. "Or to even know what contemplative means." he added with a smirk.

Instead of reacting insulted or to give a sharp comeback, Shawn just smiled at Lassiter warmly.

"Ah, Lassie." he said. "The good old cynical you. You´re grounding this assemble every time you say something like that."

Lassiter looked at him with a frown that spoke loud and clear: Is he trying to kid me?

"Did he just say assemble?" Gus whispered at Henry who was equally startled about the whole conversation.

"I know, I usually don´t say out loud how much I appreciate you, Lassie." Shawn went on, not paying attention to them. "But I think it´s a good day to finally do so." He opened his arms wide, inviting Lassiter for a hug.

"I don´t think so." Lassiter replied startled, skipping back a little.

"All right." Shawn said and took his arms down. "That´s fair." He turned to Henry and spread them again. "Daddy?"

"Oh, no. Forget it, Shawn." Henry said and took half a step back. "This is not the place nor the time for something like that. We all have work to do."

Shawn turned to Juliet. "Jules." he almost cried out for a sign now.

"He´s right, Shawn." she agreed with Henry, frowning. "You´re acting a little weird."

"Maybe he isn´t Shawn." Mary chipped in, making them all turn to him. The small profiler looked at Shawn with peeking eyes in an expressionless face. "Are you?" he asked him. "Can you prove that you are the real Shawn Spencer?"

Shawn smiled at him but it was not the kind of smile Gus was used to see on his friend´s face when he was laughing inwardly about something ridiculous like that. This smile was almost creepy. He´d just opened his mouth to say something, when an exasperated groan from Henry stopped him.

"I´m sorry, guys." he said. "But I have to go before I catch whatever it is that seems to fly through that air around here." With that he went away and vanished behind his desk at the end of the hall.

"Same here." Lassiter agreed and made his own way along the hall. Only he went down the stairs at the far end of the hall.

Mary was still staring at Shawn with this demanding gaze. More irritating was the fact that Shawn was still smiling at Mary in this new creepy way of his. Gus just couldn´t decide which one of them freaked him out the most. At last he grabbed his friend´s arm to get his attention and to put an end to this creepy-stare-contest.

"Come on now." he said. "We had an appointment, forgot that?"

"An appointment?" Shawn asked and finally looked away from Mary.

"The Con?" Gus replied, now getting annoyed over that delay in their plans.

"Oh, yeah." Shawn said. "No, I didn´t forget that. How could I? I just wouldn´t call it an appointment."

"What would you call it?" Mary asked, still staring.

Shawn threw him a glance and a shadow of this creepy smile was back on his lips. "Well, let´s see." he said and pretended to think. "Awesome. Marvelous. The absolutely coolest day of my life. No, wait. The second coolest day of my life. The coolest day was the day I met Curt Smith. But other than that …"

"And you still won´t wait for me before you go there." Juliet pouted. "I can´t leave here before two hours from now."

"I´m so sorry, dear." Shawn said and turned to Gus. "Can´t we just wait for her?" he asked.

"No, Shawn." Gus replied. "Sorry, Juliet, but we´re already a day late and there is a film set for three p.m. I want to see. I promise, we´ll come back and pick you up. But I won´t wait any longer. And you promised me that we´d go there together." he told Shawn.

"That´s true, I did." Shawn admitted humbly and threw Juliet an apologetic glance. The subject Mary had brought up earlier seemed forgotten.

It wasn´t for Mary though, Gus could see that. He was still staring at Shawn with that creepy gaze of his and slowly it really started to creep Gus out. He just wanted to get away from there. To get out of here and away from that creepy look of this creepy little guy. He wanted to get away from the police station and from this case. He wanted to get back to the life he was used to. A life what meant to have some fun with his friend and not to worry too much about death and possible shapeshifters who ate the brains of their victims.

Not that Gus truly believed in Mary´s outrageous theories. But things like that had a tendency to plant themselves into his mind without him wanting it. Another reason why he needed to get out. At the Con things would look better again. Much better.

"Come on, Shawn." he took his friend´s arm. "Let´s go. Andrew is waiting for us at the entrance. He promised us a private tour. We will give you a private tour later." he hurried to promise Juliet.

"Two hours from now." she reminded them, pointing her index finger at them. "Don´t you dare to be late. And think of the ticket, Guster."

"Promise." Gus smirked and raised three fingers like a good boyscout. "Come on, Shawn." he urged and dragged his friend backwards, away from Mary´s peeking gaze. When they were finally outside, he exhaled in relief.

"Man." he said. "This guy needs a hobby."

"Definitely." Shawn agreed.

"Come. Let´s grab some food and then nothing but heading for the Con."

"You´ve got it."

They got in the car and Gus drove them to the next best diner that was on their way. Just being on the street again, doing some familiar things like getting something to bite, made him feel better. It was a nice day now that the rain was over, and it had the potential of becoming an even better one. They´d eat, they´d have their tour through the Con and later on they´d do it again with Juliet and let the day go out by just hanging out there.

Surely Shawn and Juliet would stroll off later without him but that was okay. Until then they´d have a good time as a trio. The three musketeers. And who knew. Maybe he would meet a cute girl at the Con too. Things were still up in the air.

They entered the diner and approached the counter. Minka smiled at them, friendly as always. "Hi, Shawn." she greeted. "Gus."

"Hello, Minka." Gus greeted back and looked at the list behind her to chose his order. He frowned when he realized that Shawn hadn´t greeted Minka back with one of his usual sweet talk chats or at least one of his smart ass speeches. When he looked at him unsure, Shawn raised both eyebrows.

"Oh, yeah." he said, turning to Minka. "I take a chicken sandwich and a beer."

"A beer at this time?" Gus asked, now even more confused.

"You´re absolutely right. No beer. Make it a Cola."

"All right." Minka said, frowning. "What about you, Gus? Chocolate muffins?"

"Ehm … No, I take the same as Shawn." he said. "But I take two sandwiches."

"You got it." she said and went away to fetch the wanted.

Shawn took out his wallet to count the money. Now Gus was really confused.

"You´re gonna pay?" he asked.

Shawn looked up at him surprised. "Isn´t that what we´re supposed to do?" he asked. "As far as I know, it´s called stealing if you don´t."

"I know that." Gus replied. "I´m just not used to the fact that you´re paying yourself. At least not until you had a try at the game."

"The game." Shawn replied uncertain.

"Shawn. Are you sure you´re feeling okay?"

Minka was back and put the food and drinks on the counter. "Chicken sandwiches and Cokes." she said. "And? Want to have a shot?" She threw a short look at the blackboard behind her. "Name all the kid actors in Stand By Me in the ascending order of their age." she read the question that was written there. "Shouldn´t be too hard to solve, right Shawn?"

"Come on, Shawn." Gus said now getting tired of the charade. "Get over with it so we can go."

Shawn threw him a hesitant glance. His fingers were playing with his wallet, almost nervously. When he noticed it, he closed it and grabbed it firmly. He looked at the blackboard and into the waiting face of Minka. Eventually he cleared his throat.

"I …" he started and then chuckled. "I´m sorry. But I seem to be not quite focused today. I´d like to skip this. Just for today. That okay for you … Minka?"

Minka was a little surprised but just shrugged. "Then I get seven thirty from you."

Shawn was about to open his wallet again but stopped himself just in time.

"Ehm … Gus." he said. "I hate to say that but … I´m a little short on change. Could you do that?"

This was finally something familiar, though it didn´t come out quite the familiar way. Gus took out his wallet and payed the bill but he couldn´t stop wondering what the hell was wrong today. This was so not like Shawn. The question had been a joke compared to some others Shawn had solved so far with not so much as a minute of consideration. And Stand By Me was one of Shawn´s favorites. Even Gus could name three of the kid actors by heart. Only the fourth name always slipped his mind and of course he couldn´t have named them in order of their age. But Shawn could have, he was sure of it. Usually he wouldn´t even think about it. He had today. And he quit. Why? What was wrong with him?

Gus took his bag of sandwiches and his cola and so did Shawn. He either didn´t notice Gus´ deep frown or he pretended not to notice it. When they reached the door, Gus couldn´t hold onto himself any longer. He just had to ask.

"Shawn." he said in a serious tone. "Are you feeling sick? If you do, you better tell me. I´m not mad if you want to skip the Con." He couldn´t believe he said that but by now he was truly concerned.

"Why do you think, I´d feel sick?" Shawn asked and opened the door. "Okay, I didn´t know the answer to that quiz. I admit that I´m not at my best today. This thing with Raj and Mina has gotten me pretty bad."

"It must have gotten you more than just bad." Gus replied. "Stand By Me is one of your all time favorites. I can´t believe you didn´t take that challenge."

Shawn looked at him for a moment. "I can´t believe it myself." he then said. "But don´t worry, I´m fine. Let´s just go on and have some fun at the Con. Just the way old friends do. Come on."

He waved for him to finally come and Gus followed, still uncertain. Something was wrong with his friend. Terribly wrong. It was not that Shawn had not solved the quiz or that he´d actually wanted to pay. There was something more to this feeling of wrongness than just that. Something was off. Way off. Gus couldn´t name it but he could feel it. It was as if he was with a completely different person. Not the Shawn he knew.

Could it be that the death of Raj and Mina truly had had such a powerful effect on him? Could that be the reason? Gus had seen Shawn react to peoples death, even people they´d known, the way they´d known Raj and Mina. It had never shaken Shawn so much, to make him forget some movie trivia, especially not from one of his favorite movies.

Why should it be so different this time? Because of the cruelty of the case? Eaten brains and all that? Maybe Mary had gotten all up in Shawn´s head too with his talk about a supernatural talented, shapeshifting murderer.

_Maybe he isn´t Shawn_, he heard Mary´s voice in his head. _Can you prove that you are the real Shawn Spencer?_

Suddenly Gus felt a cold hand on his neck. The cold hand of realization. He hesitated in his steps but managed it to keep walking without Shawn noticing it. That was ridiculous. Shapeshifters didn´t exist. And even if this would have been the test, Mary had suggested earlier, what would it prove? That he wasn´t the real Shawn Spencer? That was just ridiculous. Shapeshifters didn´t exist. That was just some science fiction fantasy. Something you saw in TV shows but never in real life. Of course this guy was Shawn Spencer. Gus´ friend since childhood. He should know.

Shawn had reached the car now. He put his bag and cola on the roof and then turned around to Gus. The instant their eyes met, Gus suddenly thought: That´s not Shawn. Mary was right. This is another man. Those are not the eyes of my friend. I don´t know how this is possible, but that´s not Shawn.

A moment later the eyes he saw looked exactly the same again and he wouldn´t have been able to tell the difference. If he´d missed the glance about just a second, he wouldn´t have seen any difference at all. But he had seen it, no matter how short it had been, he knew he´d seen it. And this alone made the hair in his neck standing up.

God, he pleaded in his mind. Don´t let this be real. Tell me that I´m seeing things and that all this is just the result of stress and a hyperactive fantasy, caused by Mary Lightly´s crazy talk. Please, God, please.

He reached Shawn and for a moment, Shawn seemed to notice something. Again this moment only lasted a second. Then Shawn smiled brightly and told him: "Man, I am excited about that Con, aren´t you?"

Gus made himself smile but failed pathetically. "Of course." he said. "You sure you want to come along?"

"Why do you keep asking?"

"Because … you really look pale."

"Am I?" Shawn frowned. "Oh. Maybe I just need some sleep." he then admitted. "But I assure you, I´m all right."

"Okay." Gus said.

He turned around and started to make his way around the car to get to the driver´s side. When he was in front of the hood, he halted, for a moment. This time he managed a better smile when he turned back to Shawn and asked him: "Hey, do you remember our first school bags? Mine had lots and lots of Optimus Primes on it and yours was full of Bumblebees."

Shawn smiled back at him brightly. "Sure I remember that." he said. "I still have mine. How about you? Hey, maybe we should have brought them along." he added with an almost perfect Shawn Spencer glowing. Almost.

Gus remembered their first school bags very well. Shawn´s had been a Knightrider bag and his own had had Dinosaucers on it. Now he was just staring at the man that stood next to his company car and looked exactly like his childhood friend and couldn´t help but wonder, if Shawn, the real Shawn, was still alive. For one dreadful moment, he imagined him lying somewhere in a dark alley with his head open and his brain removed.

In this moment every effort of his mind to be rational about the idea of shapeshifters was forgotten. All he could think now was: This is Sylar. He killed Shawn and took his identity. And now he is going to kill me, because I know. Because I saw through his disguise. The slowly growing smile on Shawn´s/Sylar´s lips proved that. He knew that Gus knew. And in this moment, Gus just dropped his bag and cola and ran for it, as fast as he could.

He ran down the street, pushing some people out of his way, that just came out of the diner. He almost stumbled and fell. But he caught himself and kept running. He´d almost reached the corner when suddenly something pushed him sideways. There was nothing to be seen that could have caused that push. He just flew aside and into the street.

The world was swirling around him and for a moment, Gus didn´t even know anymore where was up and where was down. Then he heard a horn honking and a second later his back collided painfully with something that cracked beneath him. Then he was thrown forward and onto the pavement.

He could hear squeaking tires close (too close) to his ear. Someone was screaming. Then everything went black.


	7. Lassiter

**Lassiter**

It hadn´t been the nicest visit to the morgue he´d ever made. Despite what he´d said to Guster earlier, sometimes it didn´t matter if you knew someone good or just a little. This guy Raj had had something about him that made people care about him. Some sort of infinite innocence that gave him the aura of a big child. A little like Spencer but without the stupidity.

Lassiter had known the guy as a witness, later as a suspect and then very quickly as a witness again. And of course he´d provided him with a great opportunity to get back at Spencer, at least for a while.

Now he was a victim. And not just a simple one. He´d died only a day after his wife had been brutally murdered. Something Lassiter didn´t wish anyone to experience. Okay, maybe he´d know some guys, but their wives were even worse than the guys themselves, so there was no shame in thinking that.

He came back to the bullpen and lay the file down on his desk. One last report and the case would be done. It was about time. Even O´Hara looked stressed. But she had a place where she wanted to be, he knew and that explained her restless tension. She´d told him over and over about that convention of this silly robot film. That Spencer was crazy about such stuff was hardly a surprise. But that she was into that as well, had thrown him off a little. Well, as long as she didn´t expect him to understand the references, it was tolerable he guessed.

He sat behind his computer to get to the report. He was just about to start, when he noticed Mary Lightly, coming over to them once again. He was walking in this unnerving slowness of his and Lassiter had to restrain the urge to yell at him to speed up and say what he wanted before the day was over.

But this sneaking walk of the man – Lassiter found it hard to call him man even in his thoughts – gave O´Hara the chance to stand up and walk away with a file in her hand, apparently without even noticing Lightly´s approach. Good for her, Carlton thought and later on he´d think it with even more gratefulness. Because what Lightly had to say, would have upset her more than necessary and after such a case, this was nothing they all could need.

"I called Raj Singh´s family." Lightly told him without any transition. "They didn´t have a ceremony for Raj or Mina today. And they haven´t spoken to Shawn in months."

Lassiter just looked at Lightly, waiting for the big punchline. But it didn´t come. "So?" he asked. "Why do you think that would be interesting for me?"

"Shawn said he attempted a ceremony the Singh family gave this forenoon." Mary recalled. "Obviously he didn´t. Why did he lie?"

Lassiter thought this over for a moment, but then dismissed it. "Spencer is lying all the time about what he´s doing. He sure had his reasons. Why would I care?"

"Maybe you should." Mary said in this dreamy voice of his. "Maybe Sylar made his first mistake right from the beginning."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lassiter asked but immediately raised his hand to stop Mary from answering. "You know what. I believe I already have a guess. And no, I don´t wanna hear it. Henry, tell this geek here that your son is cocky all the time and that it´s not a sign of him being possessed. At least not more than usual."

"Replaced is what I say, not possessed. That´s a completely different thing, detective."

"What are you still doing here anyway?" Henry asked. "The case is closed."

"I´m still writing my report." Mary explained. "I was waiting for the autopsy report."

"Here you go." Lassiter handed him the file, much more generous with his paper work than usually, because O´Hara was coming back. So he lay the file – his file – into Mary´s weak hands, standing up from his seat. "You have what you need." he said. "Now finish your work, so we can finish ours."

Mary nodded humbly and went back to his own computer, what was gratefully in another room. Lassiter grabbed his jacket.

"I need to get out for a moment." he told Henry and O´Hara. "I´ll get myself something to eat. Do you want anything?"

"No, I´m fine." O´Hara said, a little startled.

He nodded stiffly. "I´m back in a few minutes." he said and stalked out. God, he really needed some fresh air. Some Lightly free atmosphere.

He got in his car and drove off as fast as traffic safety and sanity allowed it. He didn´t see the figure that was hiding behind a tree until he was out of sight, before it went on heading for the police station. A figure that looked exactly like Shawn Spencer.

Lassiter drove some streets, mostly to get his head free, until he was stopped by a cordon. An ambulance was blocking the street, its flashing lights illuminating the scene in a very familiar way. Lassiter stopped his car and cursed. He was just about to look back, to see if he could turn around, when his eyes fell on one of the cars that were parked at the curbside. He´d come to a stop almost right next to it. It was Guster´s blue car, no doubt of it.

Immediately Lassiter´s eyes flashed back to the ambulance in the street. He had no logical reason to believe that it had anything to do with them, but his experience with those two over the last few years, made him jump anyway. He got out of the car and hurried through the crowd, gathered around the place, repeating over and over again that he was a police detective, that they should let him through. If these two idiots had managed it to get themselves shot by some random burglar or something …

He reached the ambulance car and saw the figure that lay on the street, surrounded by paramedics who were busy lifting him onto a stretcher. It was Guster. But he barely still looked like Guster. He was full of blood and through all the paramedics, Lassiter almost couldn´t see him. But it was him, there was no doubt.

Immediately Lassiter looked around for Spencer. He couldn´t see him. They´d left the station together, barely half an hour ago. He had to be here. Lassiter grabbed the shoulder of a young paramedic.

"What happened here?" he demanded to know, showing his badge to the man.

"An accident as far as we know." the young man told him.

"Was there another man involved? Did another ambulance take him?"

"No, just this man." the paramedic answered confused. "Sorry, who are you again?"

"Detective Lassiter, S.B.P.D." Lassiter said and looked around again for Spencer. Why wasn´t he here? His best friend had had an accident. How could he not know that? Where the hell was this guy?

"Spencer!" he yelled over the crowd, in the useless hope he might be behind them somewhere.

But instead of Spencer showing up, it was Guster who reacted to his calling. His head turned to him, right when the paramedics shoved his stretcher over to the ambulance.

"I need to talk to that man." Lassiter said, blocking their way into the car.

"I´m sorry, but I can´t allow that." the leading paramedic said and wanted to shove Lassiter out of his way.

"Head detective Carlton Lassiter, S.B.P.D." Lassiter emphasized. "This man could be a material witness."

"Even if he was a key witness, detective …" the paramedic replied stubbornly.

"For gods sake, he´s a friend of mine." Lassiter snapped. "Just give me a break. A minute, okay?"

The EMT looked at him for a moment but then finally nodded. "Talk fast." he said.

Guster had reached out a hand for Lassiter. The detective hurried to his side and was just about to ask him what had happened, when Gus already spoke up.

"´assi´er." he croaked. "Id ´as´t Shaw´."

"What?" Lassiter asked and brought his ear closer to Guster.

"It ´as Sa – yla." Gus managed it to bring out. "He tried t´ kill me. ´ooks like Shawn … bu´ … he isn´t."

"What are you telling me here?" Lassiter asked. "That Spencer did this?"

"No. Nod Shaw´. Syla´. He´s … back."

"He doesn´t know what he´s talking." the EMT spoke up behind Lassiter. "We have to bring him to the hospital now." The group of paramedics surrounding Guster, started to shove again and loaded him into the ambulance.

"You´ve got´o stop ´im, ´assie." Gus cried out to him. "He´ll kill again."

"We´ll bring him to the Memorial." the man informed Lassiter. "If you want to see him, you have to go there." with that he closed the doors and the ambulance drove off.

Lassiter stood there and watched it leave. He wiped his hand over his face and let it rest on his mouth for a moment. What the hell had just happened here? Did he really just hear what he believed he´d heard? Did Guster really tell him what he believed he did?

But that was impossible. On the other hand, it was even more impossible what he´d just witnessed. Guster being loaded into an ambulance and no Spencer in sight. What the hell was all this supposed to mean?

He had no idea what else to do, so he rushed back to his car, made a u-turn and drove back to the station as fast as he could. Something seemed to urge him back there. Something that he couldn´t explain as long as he was on the way and neither when he ran into the station again.

He had no idea what he´d expected to find there. Surely no Sylar in Spencer disguise holding a gun to his partner´s head or anything like that. Because such a thing was just ridiculous. Guster had fantasized, probably caused by the shock of that accident and some of the painkillers, the paramedics had injected to stabilize him.

Of course there was nothing out of the ordinary here in the station. The only strange thing was that Spencer hadn´t been around when Guster had had this accident. But maybe that was the reason why Lassiter had rushed so much. Because that was enough for being out of the ordinary to make him expect trouble. A missing Spencer was never a good sign.

"What´s the matter with you?" Henry addressed him when he came his way. "You look like you´ve seen a ghost."

In this moment – Lassiter had no idea why this troubled him so much all the sudden – he noticed that O´Hara wasn´t at her desk.

"Where´s Juliet?" he demanded to know.

"Gee, I don´t know." Henry shrugged. "She was still here when I went to the bathroom. Maybe she´s down in the archives."

"Are you talking about Juliet?" McNab asked behind them. The young officer held a file in his hands, looking down on them with open eyes. "I saw her leaving together with Shawn earlier." he informed them, pointing over his shoulder at the door.

"You what?" Lassiter snapped. "When was that?"

"Somewhat about ten minutes ago." McNab answered startled over that reaction. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah." Henry agreed. "I´d like to know that too."

"I just found Guster in the streets, obviously involved in an accident." Lassiter told them.

"What?" McNab cried.

"How bad is he?" Henry wanted to know. He couldn´t have looked more concerned if Lassiter had told him, he´d found Shawn in that condition.

"Not too good." he said honestly. "The ambulance took him to the hospital. The thing that concerns me is that Shawn was nowhere in sight."

Henry immediately grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. Lassiter cursed in silence. He could have thought of that too. He had Spencer on speed dial too after all. It was so simple. But obviously it wasn´t the solution, because after a moment, Henry shook his head.

"It´s going straight to voicemail." he said and then spoke into the phone: "Shawn, it´s me. There has been an accident. I want you to call me back as soon as you hear that." He hung up and for a moment the three of them stood in silence.

"This won´t do it." Mary´s thin voice spoke up between Lassiter and McNab and made them all jump simultaneously.

"Dammit, Lightly." Lassiter cursed. How did he always do that?

"He won´t answer, even if he ever hears that message." Mary said without paying attention to the fright he´d given them all.

"How do you know that?" Henry asked still gasping.

"Because he isn´t Shawn." was all Mary said.

"Mary." Henry said tired. "How often …?"

"When will you stop being stubborn and start opening your eyes?" Mary interrupted him, rather fiercely. At least fiercely for Mary standards. "Gus has an accident and Shawn just walks out of here with Juliet as if nothing happened? Does that make any sense to you?"

"Maybe he didn´t know." Henry argued. "They might have separated. There are many reasons why he could …"

"Except …" Lassiter talked over him. "Guster told me that Shawn was with him. In fact he told me that it was Shawn … no." he interrupted himself, shaking his head. "No, he said … Sylar … was the one who pushed him onto the street. I thought he was just fantasizing …"

"He wasn´t." Mary immediately insisted. "Don´t you see? He tried to kill him because he saw through his disguise. Sylar is alive and he has taken Shawn´s appearance. Maybe that was his plan from the beginning."

"Mary, stop this nonsense." Henry bellowed. "I want to know where my son is."

"And my partner." Lassiter agreed. "Because if this guy is up to something, I want to be faster than him."

"What are you talking about, Carlton?" Henry snapped. "You sound like him now. You don´t really believe that stuff, do you?"

"I don´t know what to believe." Lassiter shouted back. "I only know that I just saw Guster in a bad condition, being transferred to the hospital and now my partner is missing. I want to know where she is and I want to know where Shawn is, and I want some answers, dammit."

"Yeah? And how are we supposed to find them?" Henry asked. "They could be anywhere."

"Maybe I know how to find Shawn." Mary said, now in this dreamy voice again. "He mentioned something about a mosque this morning when I spoke to him."

"A mosque?" Henry repeated confused. "And what do you mean he mentioned it. This morning? What makes you think he´d go there now?"

"I don´t say he´d go there now. I believe he could be there somewhere. Possibly since this morning. Somewhat around nine seems a good guess. That was the time Gus said, he´d tried to call him."

"Are you still on that trip? Shawn is with Juliet. They just left together."

"No, they didn´t." Mary objected. "Sylar left with Juliet. Shawn is where Sylar overpowered him. He might even be dead already."

"That´s it." Henry dismissed Mary demonstratively. "I´m not listening to that crap anymore."

"There is a mosque in Witcham Street." Lassiter mumbled as if he hadn´t heard that whole discussion. "I sometimes pass it on my way to the mall, when the main streets are jammed."

"We should go there and see if we can find anything." Mary said. "Shawn could as well still be alive. We should hurry."

Lassiter threw an estimating look at Henry but got nothing from him but stubbornness. Not that he´d expected anything else. Eventually he nodded – to Mary, not to Henry.

"All right." the detective said. "McNab, you´re coming with us, in case we need backup." With that he was on his way out, Mary and McNab on his heels.

Henry stood there and watched them go, for two more seconds. Then he cursed and hurried after them.

**...**

When they reached Witcham Street they didn´t need to look very long. The clue was already waiting there for them. Lassiter parked right behind it and Henry was out of the car before he´d even fully stopped. The first thing he aimed for was the motorcycle of his son.

After he´d stood there and stared at it in disbelieve for a moment, he turned back to Lassiter, with an expression of, damn yeah, helplessness. He was confused, Lassiter could tell. He still didn´t want to believe Mary´s outrageous theory but seeing this bike standing here, was like finding the goodbye letter of someone who was long dead. Or maybe even like seeing a ghost.

Lassiter ignored the gnashing urge to say something comforting and just walked past Henry to the car that was also parked at the curbside. It was the white Nissan of Rajesh Singh, he recognized it from the file. He looked through the window and then tried the door. It was open. He reached into the car and grabbed what he´d spotted on the dashboard. It was a note. It read: Third floor, App. 403

"What do you have there?" Henry asked and now it was in his voice as well as in his face, that he´d given up on his doubts about anything. Lassiter wasn´t sure if he now believed in Mary´s theory but he definitely believed that his son was in danger.

"I guess we know where Raj died." Lassiter said, showing him the note.

Henry´s face went pale. When he glanced at Lassiter again, his question was unmistakable. Did Shawn die there too?

Lassiter didn´t answer but turned around to head for the building. His hand briefly slipped under his jacket for his gun, but he restrained the urge to pull it for the time being. So far they were on a street and there were civilians walking by. The four men reached the front door and of course found it closed.

"Excuse me, Ma´am." Henry called.

Lassiter turned around and saw the old woman who sat in her window, just to their right.

"Could you open the door for us?" Henry asked her. "We are with the Santa Barbara Police Department. Please, it´s pretty urgent."

"Are you here because of Fred Kausner?" she asked, fully awake now.

Before Henry had a chance to say something that might cause this old gal to discuss with them even longer, Lassiter told her in his best official police business tone: "We´re not allowed to speak about this, Ma´am. Please open the door now. There is no time to lose."

The woman immediately got up from her place and hurried out of sight. What they´d seen on her face was total awe and excitement. Astounding in such an old face. A moment later the buzzer buzzed and the door was open. Now Lassiter couldn´t keep his gun in the holster any longer. It practically jumped into his hand all on its own. The old woman who´d come out to greet them welcome personally, got pushed back only by the blast he was producing.

"Ma´am, I need you to go back to your apartment." he told her, holding his gun up as if he truly expected an assassin to jump out from behind the next corner any second. "And close your door. Don´t come out before we give the all-clear signal."

She probably hadn´t moved so fast since her wedding night. Lassiter relaxed a little after the door was closed but then Henry rushed past him and up the stairs. The detective hurried after him, McNab right at his heels and somewhere at the tail of their little S.W.A.T. commando, trotted Mary Lightly.

Lassiter reached the third floor and found Henry standing in front of a door. He signaled him that this was the right apartment and Lassiter hurried over to him.

"McNab you back us up, understood." he whispered and the young officer nodded, his eyes wide and his mouth open so he could breath better in his excitement.

At least he´s holding his gun tight, Lassiter thought briefly. Then he turned his attention back to the door. He prepared himself and then nodded at Henry. The older man gave the door a kick and it flew open. Lassiter jumped forward and aimed around. No one attacked them. But his eyes fell on a motionless figure on the ground and he almost forgot how to breath.

"Shawn." Henry cried and rushed past Lassiter. "My god, Shawn."

He dropped to his knees next to his son, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with all that blood. A second later he´d found the answer. He picked Shawn up, to hold him in his arms like a child.

"Shawn. Come on, kid. Don´t do this to me." he started to talk to him. "Wake up, Shawn. Shawn."

"Search the apartment." Lassiter ordered McNab over his shoulder.

The young officer nodded and after a few more seconds, did as he was asked. He kept his worried eyes on Henry and Shawn as long as he could though. Lassiter knew he should have rebuked him for that lack of attention he payed to the corners in his back but he didn´t do it. He found it hard to get his gaze off the pale figure as well.

"Is he all right?" Mary asked, staring at Shawn fascinated.

Lassiter didn´t answer. Henry was already busy examining his son and suddenly he exhaled in relief. "He´s wearing a bulletproof vest." he told them. "Thanks god, the kid learned something over the years."

Lassiter was about to agree. He approached Henry and Shawn to have a better look at the unconscious man. Bulletproofed vest or not, but the things didn´t have sleeves and he´d lost a fair amount of blood. Just as Henry cried out his relief, Shawn´s head twitched a little.

"Wear the west, save your chest." he mumbled with his eyes closed. "That´s what you always told me."

"Shawn!" Henry cried again.

Now he opened his eyes. There was a slight smile on his lips. The kind of smile that always seemed to be there, no matter what. He looked at his father and then spotted Lassiter.

"Even a sly dog can learn a new trick once in a while. Am I right, Lassie?" he asked.

The detective had to restrain a too released smile and managed it to keep it down to a half smirk. Shawn closed his eyes once again and took a fizzing breath. "Man, am I glad to see you guys." he groaned leaning his head back and letting it rest against his father´s arm.

"The apartment´s empty." McNab reported when he came back. His eyes immediately fell on Shawn.

"Hey, Buzz." the fake psychic greeted. "Nice that you dropped by. Sorry, but I don´t have any cake. Was a little short notice, you see."

Buzz face lit up with a wide smile but Lassiter immediately sent him away, to look for some bandages. The young officer eagerly obeyed and hurried into the bathroom. Soon he was back with the needed utensils and Henry started to treat his son´s wounds.

"You are dumb lucky, boy." he finally stated. "Both bullets went right through. No hit arteries or bones."

"Funny." Shawn groaned while Henry wound the bandage around his neck and shoulder. "It doesn´t feel so lucky."

"We need to bring you to a hospital though." Henry went on without paying attention to the comment.

"No time for that." Shawn objected. "There´s a murderer on the loose. A pretty deadly one. Pun intended."

"We know." Lassiter said. "It´s Sylar."

"Are you guys still on that track?" Henry snapped. "We have more important things to do than made up stories about resurrected criminals."

"Henry, how much more proof do you need?" Lassiter bellowed and pointed at Shawn. "You saw him leave the station with O´Hara less than an hour ago."

"Jules?" Shawn asked.

"I didn´t see anyone leave." Henry argued ignoring Shawn. "As far as I know it, Buzz could have been wrong and saw someone else that he has mistaken with Shawn. I won´t discuss impossible things while my son needs medical care. So would someone please call an ambulance?"

But before he even was done with this little speech, Shawn started to struggle, to get back to his feet. Henry, totally surprised by that, tried to keep him down.

"Let me go, dad." Shawn demanded. "If Sylar went away with Jules, we need to find them."

"Shawn, stop that." Henry demanded right back. "You need a doctor."

Lassiter gave Shawn a hand so he could stand up. He was now officially tired of Henry´s stubbornness. Shawn had made a clear statement and with that he had a point. They had to find Juliet and whoever was with her.

"When did he take her?" Shawn asked him.

"McNab saw them leave the station a little more than half an hour ago." Lassiter answered and it was clear how less hope this left on Shawn´s side. "Please tell me you know something that helps us find them." Lassiter said, effected by the fake psychic´s paling. He wanted to hear a yes. He wanted to hear that they´d find them and get the damn bastard before he could do anything to her. He wanted to hear that there was hope.

"Why would she go with him anyway?" Buzz wondered out loud. "I mean her shift wasn´t over so it can´t be the Convention you guys planned to visit. She wouldn´t have left while she was on duty."

"Not for the Convention." Lassiter agreed. "But if it would have been for a case."

"Raj´s case." Shawn agreed, trying to think. He swayed all the sudden and Lassiter had to grab his arm to keep him from falling. Henry jumped forward, doing the same.

"He belongs into a hospital." he tried to emphasize his earlier statement but it only came out halfhearted. He knew his son too good to believe that he could get him off the topic he had in his mind right now. Especially since this topic had the name Juliet O´Hara.

"What could he have said to her, to convince her to go with him?" Shawn wondered.

"Maybe it´s nothing." McNab spoke up again. "But when they passed me, I caught a fragment of a word."

"What word?" Lassiter barked.

"I´m not sure. Something like … Annua … or Panua … they were too far away from me. And I heard the word vision."

"Panua." Lassiter repeated thoughtful. "Panua. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I didn´t intent to listen." McNab apologized for this lack of better information.

Shawn had started to repeat the word quietly over and over again too. It didn´t seem to ring any bells though.

"Maybe it´s Saint Anthony of Padua." Mary suddenly suggested. "That´s the patron saint of the loving couples."

Something darkened in Shawn´s eyes and then he nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense." he said. "He said, I was part of a unique system and he wanted to take my place in it."

"A saint." Lassiter mused. "That indicates a church."

In this moment, Shawn´s face lit up. "I know where they are." he cried and was already on his way to the door – or would have been if he hadn´t swayed again after two steps.

Again Lassiter and Henry stabilized him but he nodded fiercely to show them that he was fine.

"Come on." he urged. "We need to hurry."


	8. Juliet

**Juliet**

It was strange that a place that was build to comfort people in hard times and give them something to hold onto, to send their hopes and prayers to, could be so creepy when it was empty and lay in the shady light of the late afternoon. There were so many dark corners in the big cathedral that Juliet didn´t know where to aim her gun first. She had her back against the heavy front door, peeking in carefully. But save the squeaking sound the door itself had made when Shawn had opened it, there was no sound to be heard. The church seemed totally abandoned.

Juliet was just about to turn back to Shawn to tell him there was nothing, when he already walked past her and into the church. He startled her so much, she flinched at his passing shape.

"Shawn!" she hissed and hurried after him, still keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings. He just walked down the aisle as if he was heading straight for the altar. Juliet cursed in silence over his confusing attitudes and hurried after him. Halfway down the aisle she caught up with him.

"Shawn, what is it now?" she demanded to know. "You said you saw in a vision that Sylar could be here. Now what?"

He stopped in his tracks and she almost ran into him. She instinctively pointed her gun to the ground so there was no danger in it accidentally going off. Her heart was thudding heavily. Shawn just smiled at her, as if it was amusing that he´d startled her so much with doing nothing else but stopping.

"Now what?" she repeated her question.

"Seems he´s not here." he said.

She gave him a face. "I can see that. What was this vision of yours supposed to mean? I mean … he is dead, isn´t he?"

"We all saw him die, so I guess he is." was all he said to that.

"Shawn, what the heck …" Juliet shook her head in confusion.

"I love you, Juliet." he suddenly blurred out.

She looked at him, completely startled. Now he´d really thrown her off. "Don´t tell me, you only lured me here to tell me that." she said.

"What if I did?" he asked with a smile.

She almost couldn´t believe it. "Oh, Shawn." she exhaled in exasperation and put her gun away. Her heartbeat slowed down a little. So that was what the whole thing was about? One of his spontaneous ideas? God. Not that she didn´t like them. Usually she even loved them. But this … Now …

"Shawn." she started, searching for the right words to not to sound heartless.

"I love you." he repeated, looking openly into her eyes. "I really do."

She halted for a moment, suddenly unable to lecture him the way she´d intended to. Of course she still would. But the seriousness with what he´d said those three words, just made it impossible for her to do it in that strict way she´d learned from Lassiter. Damn, how could he always weaken her so much? Such puppy dog eyes must be forbidden.

"Shawn." she said, a little softer now. "It´s not that I don´t appreciate the romantic gesture. But I´m still on duty and you know that. I can´t just leave the station whenever I want. Especially not for private encounters."

"You can always tell the chief, you checked on a lead that turned out to be false alarm." he said and she couldn´t help and cracked a smile. That was so typical Shawn.

"That was such a mean trick of you." she said accusingly. "Seriously. That was creepy. After all that talk Mary has given us all along … and now you are coming up with that fake vision that Sylar could still be alive … God, Shawn. You scared the crap out of me."

"I´m sorry." he said. "But would you have come here if I´d said anything else?"

She smirked as if to say: So that is how it works, hm? Then she asked: "And where is Gus in all this? I thought you guys wanted to go to the Con together. You promised him, didn´t he say that?"

"That´s right, I did." Shawn affirmed. "But I told him, I had to do this with you first. And he understood."

"Do what with me first?" she asked.

"Juliet O´Hara." he addressed her and she held her breath for a second. Oh, god, is he going to ask me if I´ll marry him? Oh, god, please not. Not now. Not here and not after such a case. Please, not like this. He is supposed to ask me on a sunny day on the beach or in a park or something like that. Even the police station would be a better place for that. But not a creepy place like this.

"I believe I already told you that I love you. And that is true." he went on and she tensed even more, desperately trying not to let him notice. Why did he think it was necessary to emphasize that last bit? "But …" he said. "Do you also know why?"

She smiled, a little released that he hadn´t asked the other question. "Tell me." she demanded.

"It´s because you have an ability." he said. "An almost magical gift that makes people love you. Without exception. Having such an ability is … it´s literally a gift. And no one deserves it more than you." He looked at her longingly and then shook his head. "God, I would die to have a gift like that." he then said.

Juliet´s smile faded, when she saw the sadness in his eyes. "Shawn." she said. "People do love you. What …? Everybody loves you. Even Carlton. He just wouldn´t admit it."

"I know." Shawn said with a smile that also could have been a cry face. "Shawn Spencer is one lucky guy."

For a moment, Juliet didn´t know what to say or what to do with this last comment. It was so strange especially because he´d put it into these words. It sounded so weird. As if he was talking about another person and not himself. She cupped his cheek, striking it gently with her thumb.

"This case must really upset you." she said. "Honestly. I´ve never seen you like this."

He chuckled. "Of course not." he said. "I guess no one did." He shook his head again in this amazed way he´d done before. "But to be loved the way you are loved. By the whole world."

"Shawn." she blushed. "That´s not true."

"It is." he insisted. "And I adore you for it." He reached behind her head and opened her hairclips so her hair fell openly around her shoulders. "You look so beautiful with your hair open." he said dreamy and shook his head as if he couldn´t believe that what he saw was actually true. "To be loved just for being the person that you are." he said amazed. "Without having to be anything special. Not that you are not special. You definitely are. But even if you were not. People would still love you. Just because you are … you. God, I wish I had that gift."

"Oh, Shawn." she said, caressing his cheek again. "You too have so many qualities and … beautiful sides … for which people appreciate you. And love you."

He smiled at her gratefully and lay his own hand over hers, took it and placed a kiss on it.

"Sweet Juliet." he said dreamy.

"You know, you really start to worry me." she said. "It´s so not like you to doubt all that."

"Don´t worry about that." he replied. "Everything will be fine. Because I know that you´re right. Everything you said is absolutely true. And that is great. And because I know that, I don´t need that gift of yours. As long as I am Shawn Spencer, I can just be me. Just being loved for being Shawn Spencer."

"Oh, Shawn." she groaned empathetically. Just to hear him talk like that almost broke her heart.

"And as long as we have each other." he added and stepped closer, to take her into his arms.

That was the first time she felt something was off. She couldn´t name it though. It was too subtle to even be sure that it was more than the effect of this creepy place. So she shoved it aside and allowed him to kiss her. But something was still off when he did. Confused she broke the kiss and looked at him.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"I … I´m not sure." she answered and after another moment, she decided that she was acting childish. The next kiss was deeper. But it was also weirder. Juliet tried to ignore the feeling and to just focus on being with Shawn. He needed her now. Needed to know that she was there for him and that she loved him.

But when she closed her eyes, she suddenly felt dizzy. Not in the good way she usually felt dizzy when kissing him. This time it felt scary and when he pulled her in even deeper, she suddenly was so scared that her instincts took over. She pulled away from him, so fast as if she´d burned herself in his arms. She stared at him and saw his face and was so confused like never before in her life. That was Shawn, for God´s sake. Why did she just do that?

"What´s wrong?" he asked her and the hurt look in his eyes made her want to cry.

Everything inside of her was screaming but she had no idea why. It was as if she was dragged into four directions the same time and she didn´t know which one was the right one. He stepped forwards but stopped again.

"Juliet, what is it?" he asked.

"I … I don´t know." she breathed. "I … For a moment I thought … I know that sounds crazy but … For a second I had the strange feeling … that you … wouldn´t be you. That´s completely insane isn´t it?" she added with a nervous chuckle.

He answered with a smile. "Yeah, it is." he agreed and made her laugh with it.

"God, I´m so on the edge lately." she chuckled and was grateful for the chance to release her tension through that laughter.

"Understandable." he said and came to her again, laying his hands on her face. She smiled at him but the same time she had that feeling again. The feeling that came from deep inside her mind, that something was wrong. Something about his touch felt wrong.

"Maybe we should go back now." she suggested. She wanted to get out of this slowly darkening church. It was a bad place for a romantic moment. Surely she would feel better when they were back outside, where it was less dark and less silent and less creepy.

"Let´s just stay for another moment." he said and took her hand.

She smiled but it felt forced. She was sure it also looked forced but he either didn´t notice or didn´t want to. She followed him down the aisle until they stood before the altar. The altar that was dedicated to Saint Anthony. Exactly where bride and groom stood in the very moment that was called the happiest in their lives. Juliet felt that fear again that he could want to ask her for her hand in a moment when she rather wanted to run out screaming.

"Shawn, please." she said when he faced her. "This is not a good moment. I … I just …"

"Don´t worry." he said. "It won´t take long. Just a promise."

A promise. Okay, that was at least something relatively tentative. She´d be able to handle that, as long as they could leave after that. If he needed this, she´d stand the tension a little longer. For him. He took both of her hands into his.

"Juliet O´Hara." he said. "I swear to you before God and all the powers that are above us, that I will love you … and honor you … in sickness and in heath … until death …"

In this moment Juliet withdrew her hands with a jerking quickness. Again she didn´t know why and when she saw the disappointment in his eyes she immediately regretted that she´d done it.

"I´m sorry." she said and chuckled. "This is weird."

"Why?"

"This … just doesn´t sound like you. You are talking so serious."

"I am serious." he emphasized.

"But I really …" Juliet shook her head in confusion about her own feelings. "I don´t know what it is." she said. "This place gives me the creeps. Can´t we just go?"

He just looked at her with that sad and hurt gaze of his. Only that it wasn´t his. Shawn had never looked like that. Why did he now?

"Why are you skipping away from me?" he asked her sadly.

"I don´t." she claimed but in the same instant she knew that this was a lie. Yes, she did skip away from him. Not from this place, from him. Why? Why did she want to get away from Shawn? Shawn!

"Yes, you do." he said and all the sudden his expression wasn´t just sad anymore but almost desperate. "Why?" he shouted. "What have I done wrong?"

"Nothing." she gasped, almost shocked. "Please, Shawn." she had to swallow. "You scare me."

He just chuckled. "Am I?" he asked.

"Shawn, listen. I can understand that the thing with Raj and Mina has upset you. It got me pretty hard too."

"Raj and Mina." he repeated with a strange kind of smile. "This isn´t about Raj and Mina. Or anyone from Raj´s family. It´s about us."

He made a step in her direction and – she didn´t know why – she skipped back again. And again he halted, this waking and disappointed look in his eyes. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Why are you skipping away from me?" he repeated his question from before now almost whining. "It´s me."

"Please, Shawn, let´s just get out of here." she said. "This place gives me the creeps." And so do you, she added in her mind but of course she didn´t say it. He was already upset enough and the expression in his face now, was so disappointed and sad that she almost regretted that she´d asked him to leave. Almost.

"Sure." he finally said and she was already in the process of swirling around to head _– run, dammit, run – _for the door. But before she even had a chance to make so much as one step, he´d hurried ahead and placed himself into her way.

"Just one more thing." he begged.

"What?" she asked, barely able to stand in one place any longer.

"You haven´t said your part of the oath yet." he reminded her.

She almost couldn´t believe it. Why would he insist on that? Couldn´t he see that she wanted nothing but getting out of here? Since when was he so unthoughtful? This was so not like him.

"Why don´t you just say it?" he asked her. "It´s not as if it would cause any physical pain to do it. Or does it?"

"Shawn."

"Does it?" he almost shouted again.

"All right, that´s enough." she said and when he made an attempt to approach her, she instinctively did something, she´d never ever in her life, expected to do. She pulled her gun on him.

"Don´t move." she demanded in her (almost) stern cop tone. Stern except for the fact that her voice was trembling and her heart racing, over the shock that she´d truly done what she had done. And for a moment, just a short moment, there was a change in his face too. A subtle expression of surprise and shock was tightening it, just for an instant and then it was gone again, replaced by that unfamiliar expression of demanding and pleading all at once. A combination that didn´t quite work. It was so contradictory that Juliet would have believed that no human face could be able to express both of it the same time. But she saw it. And that was not the worst of all the things that were wrong.

Now he smiled again. Such a confident and fearless smile, what even facing her – her! – gun couldn´t shake. He looked at her like someone might look at a cute child. That wasn´t like Shawn. Shawn would never look at her like that. Especially not in such a moment.

"Who are you?" she heard herself ask. "What is all this about?"

"Who am I?" he repeated her question and opened his arms. "Who do you think I am?"

"I don´t know who you are." she said and now her mind had caught up with her voice. "But this has to stop now. Tell me the truth."

"The truth." he repeated in a thoughtful tone. "Oh, Juliet, you shouldn´t ask for things that you´re not ready for." While saying this he´d started to close in on her in an almost nonchalant way. She straightened her gun.

"Stop." she demanded. "Don´t come any closer."

"What are you going to do?" he asked her. "Shoot me?"

"I said stop." she repeated sternly.

"Jules." he said in this: I don´t know what all this is about-tone. "It´s me. Shawn."

"No, you are not." she said and realized that a part of her had known that all along. Only her consciousness had needed some time to catch up on this. Now it had. This guy was not Shawn. She didn´t know how it was possible that he looked and sounded so much like him _– shapeshifting abilities, Mary was right – _but she was sure it was not Shawn.

"Where is Shawn?" she asked, suddenly afraid of the answer to that. "What have you done to him?"

"I am Shawn." he emphasized. "Let me prove it to you. Give me a chance to … to be the man you want me to be. The man you love."

Juliet felt a choke in her throat. For a moment she was sure that Shawn, her Shawn, was dead and that the man she was talking to, had murdered him to take his place. Like a changeling in a dark old legend would take the place of a human child. A demon that would live amongst humans without anyone ever knowing it. Only that this demon was begging for love. Her love. A love that didn´t belong to him but to someone he´d replaced and maybe killed. Juliet collected all her strength and cocked her gun, her face as cold as ice.

"I don´t know who you are." she said. "But you´re NOT Shawn Spencer and I will never, ever in my life do so much as love you." The last words she´d said with an unconcealed tone of disgust and hate.

For a moment, her words didn´t change anything. But that moment passed and from one second to the other, his blank face darkened and became a mask of rage and anger. He raised his arm and hit out as if to wave something out of his way that was suddenly annoying him. Juliet flinched inwardly, believing he was trying to hit her. But of course he was too far away from her to actually reach her.

But something happened anyway. Her gun suddenly flew out of her hand as if he´d knocked it away with his angry gesture. It sizzled through the air and out of her sight. Somewhere in the back of the church, it hit the wall and a shot went off, echoing like thunder through the big cathedral. Juliet ducked down, out of instinct.

Shawn didn´t flinch at all. He was still staring at her with this blank smile on his lips. But there was something new in his eyes now. Something as subtle as the fright she´d given him earlier by pulling her gun. Only this one didn´t vanish. It was accusation, she realized. He was mad at her but in a sad way. Like someone might be mad at a child. You disappoint me, this gaze said. I´d thought you were smarter. And then he didn´t only say it with his eyes but also with his words.

He said: "You know, I wanted to do this differently. I wanted to be what you want. I really was ready to try, to do whatever was necessary to build up a life for us. I DO LOVE YOU." he shouted again, this time undisguised accusingly.

In this moment, she just couldn´t hold herself any longer and bolted away from him. Back to the altar and then sharp to the left. There was a door, someone had left it a tiny bit ajar. She had no idea, where it would lead her, but it was a way out. Everything was better than to stay in here with him. Just a second before she actually reached it, it fell shut with a loud bang and then the sound of the bolt being put in place, was audible.

She bounced against the door, pulling and pushing it, unable to believe what just happened right in front of her eyes. "I´m afraid I can´t let you go just yet." Shawn´s voice echoed through the cathedral. No, not Shawn. Sylar. She was suddenly sure that it was him. That Mary had been right from the beginning. Her logical thinking mind, that was trying to tell her that things like that were impossible, that people couldn´t just take on other peoples appearances like they took on another coat and that still tried to remind her that Sylar had died yesterday, had no chance against this conviction anymore. She just knew it was him.

"I tried to do this differently." he repeated, his voice a thunder in this big dark place. "But maybe it´s just not meant to be. Maybe I´m meant for this aloneness. I really wish you could have just given me a chance. I could have been everything you wanted me to be."

"Except for Shawn." she replied, looking around for another exit. But there was only the front door and to this one he was blocking her way. And her gun was gone someplace only god knew. Now she could hear him chuckle and when she looked over the rows of benches, she could see him shake his head.

"I _am_ Shawn." he emphasized again as if she was the most stupid chick in the world for not already getting that. "I mean look at me. What do you see? Don´t you see Shawn? Don´t you hear him?"

"No." she immediately answered. "I don´t see Shawn and I don´t hear him. I hear and see … something … that I don´t even dare to name. But not Shawn."

While she was talking, she slowly sneaked along the wall, still hoping that she´d find another way out of here. So far he didn´t seem to notice … or to care. He looked into another direction as if thinking. Maybe she could make it to the front door after all.

"Some_thing_." he repeated, nodding thoughtfully. "Well, maybe you´re right. Maybe a thing like me can´t be human. Or be loved by humans. But there is still a way to change that."

"I don´t see any." she said, looking around again and again. He was still not showing any indication that he wanted to stop her from sneaking away or that he´d even noticed it. She was already in his back and he still didn´t turn around, although he must have heard that her voice had come from another position. Or hadn´t he? Maybe the echo was deceiving him.

"I do know a way." he said now and in this moment, Juliet just knew that it was a bad idea to lose any more time by trying to be stealth. She bolted the rest of the way for the front door and barely two heartbeats later, she was there. The moment when her hands touched the handles, the sound of the lock snapping into place went through the door. She could even feel the vibration running through the metal beneath her hand.

Her heart skipped a beat at this. This time she spared the tries to open the door. She knew it was useless. She didn´t understand how he was doing it – earlier she´d been ready to believe that there was another guy behind the scenes, doing it, but now she saw that this was not the case – she just knew that she was trapped.

She swirled around to him and he was standing there halfway down the aisle, looking straight back at her. Now she knew where her gun was. He was holding it in his hand, aiming at her.

She reacted by pure instinct, what seemed to be her main program right now, and raced along the wall, rounding the ship on the other side now, desperately looking for cover. Only this time it wouldn´t be enough to just duck behind the benches. This time she heard his footsteps following her. Obviously he´d given up on the talk and was now officially in pursuit.

She saw the confessional box and even though she knew that the thin wooden walls wouldn´t protect her from bullets, she opened the door, slipped in and locked it behind her. Inside her breath sounded so much louder than anything else and her heart was thudding deafeningly in her ears. A moment after she´d pressed herself against the back wall cowering on the floor, he was there and rattled on the door.

The next thing he would do, he´d take a step back and shoot right through the door. And that would be it. There was no way for her to avoid his bullets if he did this. She´d die in here and then she´d follow Shawn to wherever he was now. Because she was sure that he had to be dead. Sylar had killed him. If Shawn was still alive he would have found a way to get here, to show up somewhere. He hadn´t. Because this monster out there had killed him.

Juliet squeezed her eyes shut and tears where running down her cheeks. She listened to the rattling of the door and waited for the sounds that would tell her that the bullet rain was about to come. But nothing like that happened. Sylar just went on hitting the door with his fists and feet.

"Come on, Juliet." he called her. "Open the door." He rattled again, even harder this time. "Open …" he began to shout and stopped himself with a chuckle. "Open the door, sweetheart." he then said sweetly. "I … I just want to talk to you."

"What do you want from me?" she sobbed between her tears. "What can you possibly want from me?"

"I already told you." he answered. "You have something I want. Just like Mina. And all the others."

Juliet´s breath stopped for a second dead in her throat. She saw the image of Mina again, how she hung from the banister of her house, bloody and battered, nailed to it with all kinds of things. Most of all with her head open, her brain removed.

"Oh, my god." she breathed. "You want my brain."

"The brain is just the medium for what I want. But yeah. Don´t worry, it won´t hurt."

"You´re absolutely crazy."

"People say that quite often." he agreed. "So are you coming out now?"

Are you crazy?, she wanted to ask but recalled that he´d just affirmed exactly that, so the question was a waste. Of course he was crazy if he truly expected her to come out freely just because he´d promised her to kill her painlessly. But on the other hand, was that such a bad deal? There was no way out anyway. He tried the door again but still found it locked. His hesitant try became an angry rattling again.

"Dammit, Jules." he cried and she flinched over that nickname, what reminded her so much of Shawn once again. New tears came up in her eyes. He was dead. Sylar had killed him. And now he would kill her. Just like he´d killed Raj and Mina.

Suddenly there was another sound in the church, one that came not from his tries to open the door to the confessional box. It was farther away. At the front door. Someone was knocking at it. Rather fiercely. Someone tried to get in.

Outside, Sylar turned around at this sounds. Juliet couldn´t see his facial expression through the ornaments of the window but she could tell that he was not happy about the disturbance. She was of course. Maybe there was some hope for her after all. Shawn´s, no Sylar´s silhouette lowered his head for a moment, as if in deep thought. Juliet could hear him chuckle again.

"I´m sorry, sweetheart." he said and then he finally did what she´d expected him to do all along. He took some steps back.

Juliet held her breath, waiting for the sound of the gun being cocked and the bullets to shatter through the thin wooden walls. For a moment it was just silent. And then everything around her just exploded. An enormous noise of cracking wood was all around her, as if he hadn´t just shot with a Glock but with an M.P.

Juliet screamed but except for some wooden splinters that flew into her face and hair, she didn´t feel any physical pain. But in this moment of pure terror, she was just too frightened to realize that. All she knew was that suddenly the head of the confessional box was gone and the blanks lay shattered all around her. She had just enough time to take all these impressions in, before a hand grabbed her from behind and forced her to stand up.

"I´m really sorry, dear." the false Shawn-voice hissed into her ear. "But I feel impelled to make a slight modification in the plan."


	9. Gabriel

**Gabriel **

Carlton Lassiter had never raced through the city that fast, at least not since Shawn knew him. He would have been scared for his life, clinging to the passenger seat, if he´d had the time to think of anything else but Juliet. She was with Sylar without knowing it. God, how could this happen? Fortunately St. Gabriel´s Church wasn´t far away. Too much time had passed already. Finally they could see the top of the church´s two towers, ahead in the darkening light of the evening.

"There´s her car!" Shawn cried when they reached the church, pointing ahead. Lassiter hit his hand away, out of his field of vision, annoyed.

For the last few meters he seemed to push the accelerator even more. He drove until he was almost at the door, before finally hitting the brakes.

Shawn was out of the car first but as soon as he was on his feet he swayed again, taken by a new attack of nausea. This brief distraction was all Henry needed to catch him, before he could run away.

"Shawn, slowly." he said, giving him a hand.

Shawn opened his eyes and saw Lassiter, who´d already stormed up the stairs of the church, hammering his fist against the big doors. Obviously they were locked. The detective turned back around to them and after a second of hesitation, he pointed at Mary.

"Lightly, radio in and call for backup." he bellowed down to him. "But don´t say a word about Sylar if you want anyone to show up. You hear me?"

The little profiler nodded and walked to the drivers side of the car. Shawn had only one word in his head. Inside. They had to get inside. And then he knew something. And the instant he remembered it, he started walking. Not for the front door though but past it, heading for the corner of the church. Henry hurried after him.

"Shawn, where are you going?" he demanded to know, holding him at the good shoulder.

"There´s a side door that´s open." Shawn told him.

"What? How do you know?"

Shawn swirled around, staring into his father´s eyes. It was only McNab´s presence, that kept him from yelling at Henry right now.

"There is a door the old sacristan always forgets to close." he explained. "He always forgets it. Because it´s so small. It will be open."

"I´ll tell detective L …" Buzz said but broke off when he realized that Lassiter wasn´t at the front door anymore. He was nowhere in sight for that matter.

Shawn didn´t wait for Buzz or his dad any longer. He just walked off again. He knew where he had to go and he wouldn´t allow his dad or Lassie to hold him back. If Henry would try it again, he´d use the last amount of strength he´d left, to push him away and to tell him not to come in his way. But Henry did nothing like that. He just followed him in silence until they reached the small door. The one Shawn remembered from his childhood, when he´d visited this church with his friend Gus and his parents. The door was open. Just like all those years ago.

"McNab, you back us up." Henry ordered and pulled his gun. "Shawn. If you feel dizzy you give me a signal, understood?"

Shawn just nodded. He didn´t want to talk about his condition now. He wanted to get in there. So he opened the door and walked in. His dad was right by his side. McNab right behind them.

**...**

On the other side of the church Lassiter had had a similar idea about another entrance, just like Shawn. Only that he didn´t have the luck to remember something that would help him, the way Shawn did. So he was forced to simply look around, hoping for good luck.

After he´d rounded the building halfway, he lost his patience though. He´d already tried three doors without any effect and he had very little hope that this would change at the next door he´d try.

He stopped for a moment, to reconsider. Somewhere back there he´d noticed a window in construction. The glass had been removed and the window was covered with plywood. Better than to crack a door of solid wood and much better than to shatter an actual window. Especially in a church.

When he reached the window, he hesitated though. Shooting at the wood wouldn´t do any good, he decided. It would produce nothing more than some holes in the cover. Besides the fact that it could cause the kidnapper to overreact if he´d hear gunshots. No, shooting was not a good idea. Not yet. So he holstered his gun and looked for spots in the wall where he could hold himself.

He found some and started to climb. Fortunately there were enough ornaments and artful little pillars in the window frame to work with. He got his feet on the first ledge that was beneath the window and grabbing for the middle pillar, he came all the way up to the windowsill.

As soon as he was there – and he was grateful that no one was here to watch his awkward little climbing tour – he started to kick at the plywood. It moved a little but didn´t give in yet. He cursed and kicked it again. And again. And again. He had to take care not to lose his balance on this thin sill where he´d parked his foot. Slowly, very slowly the wooden cover started to give in. Lassiter kept kicking.

**...**

Shawn and his little backup team entered the cathedral through a small hidden door, behind the altar. Henry and Buzz aimed around but no one was there. And then Shawn gasped.

They swirled around, expecting to find Sylar standing there. But instead they saw a destroyed confessional box, pieces of cracked wood lying around everywhere. As if it had exploded.

From somewhere they could hear strange knocking sounds, as if something was hit against something, over and over again. The sounds echoed through the cathedral, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere the same time. Even from above.

"What is that?" Buzz whispered spooked, looking around.

Shawn spotted an open door on the other side of the cathedral and immediately headed for it, not caring about the sounds. He had an idea what it was anyway. Or better who it was. Buzz and Henry could only follow him. He stormed through the door and into a side corridor of the church. The sounds were louder out here. Still the echo made it hard to deduct the direction of its origin.

"Is that Sylar?" Buzz asked behind him.

"No." Shawn said, dismissing the sounds. He was fixing the stairs at the end of this hall. That was what was important now. He knew where they led and he had a guess that this was exactly the place where Sylar would be heading now.

"They´re up there." he said and ran for the stairs.

Again Henry and Buzz had no other choice but to follow.

**...**

Lassiter kicked at the plywood again and finally he heard the sound he´d been waiting for. It cracked. He kicked again and the cover finally loosened, at the right side. His heart skipped a beat. Yes. Goddammit.

He shoved the plywood cover and pushed when he felt the resistor. Again the wood cracked and then it was hanging loose, inside the building. Lassiter bowed down and struggled himself through the now open window.

It was dark inside but he could see enough to jump down to the ground without falling. Immediately he pulled his gun and aimed around, in case someone had heard him enter. Damn, of course they´d heard him enter but he´d had no other option. No one came for him though.

He looked around and found that he was in a long hall. There seemed to be nothing interesting in it. But when he turned around, and he saw an open door.

He immediately headed for it, his gun always ready to fire. Outside there was the cathedral, he could see that before he was even there. But before he could even think about going out there and check it out, he heard sounds from farther down the hall. He spotted the stairs that went up to some place and understood. Those sounds he heard were footsteps, from people running up those stairs.

Spencer.

Sylar.

Whoever it was, he´d find out.

**...**

Shawn´s heart was thudding heavily in his chest. There was a waterfall rushing behind his ears and his face was hot like a fresh baked bread. When he reached the top of the stairs he had to pause for a moment and only one second later – or was it longer? he couldn´t be sure – his dad´s hand was in his back, supporting him.

As if the touch had woken him up, Shawn opened his eyes and kept walking. The door that led out to the open roof was closed but when he tried it, it went open, no resistance at all. This time Henry held him back. Shawn was just too dizzy to protest.

Buzz and Henry went out first, securing both sides of the door. Since there was no shot or shouting, Shawn assumed they didn´t find anyone out there. So he went out at last and looked around. The place looked like a well designed barn. It was halfway roofed over and even up here there were colored windows in the walls. There were statues of angels and stuff all along the parapet wall.

"Are you sure they´re up here?" Henry whispered at him.

"Absolutely sure." was all Shawn said.

He started to head for the part of the rooftop that was in the open, expecting to look into Sylar´s eyes as soon as he passed the corner. He would just stand there, only him no Juliet – for some reason she was not part of this vision Shawn had of facing Sylar.

But he wasn´t there. No one was. Instead he saw the artful parapet walls and the spires of the church´s two towers. They were right between them now. A small passage went through them, to a spot that was beyond their view.

Henry was now right next to Shawn. He didn´t need to ask, he just followed his eyes to know what he was thinking. There was no other way to get to that spot on the other side of these towers, only the direct way, right through them. The perfect ambush. But also the perfect trap for whoever was waiting there for them. No matter which way you put it. There was no going back.

"I go." Shawn said.

"No, Shawn." Henry wanted to object but with no success.

"It´s me he wants." Shawn told him, his eyes fixed on that small passageway that led through the two spires. "Besides. He thinks I´m dead. When he sees me, we´ll have a moment of surprise we might be able to use. So … try to be ready, will ya?"

He threw them one last look and then started to walk. Henry and Buzz, considering their lack of any other option, stayed right behind him, their guns ready and their eyes wide open. The sun had slipped over the horizon by now, taking the warm light of the day with it, stealing it from the world. It was getting darker.

Shawn felt like a sleepwalker. Or like someone who´s legs were operated by someone else. He walked through that passageway and just knew that he couldn´t stop, even if he´d wanted to. He knew if he´d try to make his feet stop, they´d just refuse to obey him.

And then he was there.

The open roof on the other side was a wide balcony, surrounded by more angels, looking down from the parapet. In the right corner, his back against one of those stony angels and Juliet in his arm, a gun pointing at her temple, was Sylar. Only that it wasn´t Sylar. It was Shawn.

When their eyes met, the eyes of the false Shawn went wide in surprise, for a moment.

"Shawn." Juliet cried, the biggest relieve in her voice and immediately Shawn/Sylar grabbed her tighter around the neck, to make sure she wouldn´t try anything stupid.

"Oh, my god." Shawn heard his father´s hoarse voice next to him. He didn´t need to look at him to know how his mouth was standing open right now. As well as he knew how big Buzz´s eyes were at the sight of a second Shawn. A Shawn that was pointing a gun to Juliet´s head, threatening to kill her.

Shawn wanted to say something – anything – to her, to take the fear away from her and to let her know that everything would be all right. But of course he couldn´t tell her that. And the reason why he couldn´t was the simple truth, that he didn´t know if everything would be all right again. Usually he would have been convinced about it, but that was before he´d met a man that had changed his own face into his, in less than ten seconds. He was looking at this man and into his own eyes and the son of a bitch was smiling at him.

"Hello, Sylar." he greeted him dryly.

"I must say, I´m surprised." his mirror-image told him. "Really didn´t expect to see you again. Doesn´t happen very often that my victims come back to pay me a visit."

Shawn chuckled but without any humor or even a hint of a smile. "Surprise."

**...**

Lassiter had reached the top of the stairs. He went out to the roof, just the way Henry and Buzz had done it before, aiming in all the directions a possible attacker could come from. When he found his surroundings clear, he went on. Walking on the tip of his toes and always ready to take cover behind some pillar or statue, he hurried over the roof to find Spencer and his partner. He knew they were here. There was no other place where they could have gone.

He spotted the passageway between the two spires and hurried over to it. But instead of going through it, he stopped, flattening himself against the wall and peeking around the corner. He could hear a voice. Spencer. The older one. He breathed a shocked _`Oh, my god´_ and Lassiter tensed at these three words. That was not a good sign.

"Hello, Sylar." Shawn´s voice said and that tipped the scales for Lassiter. He had to act. Now.

He threw a look into the small alley and decided that it wouldn´t do any good to go through there. They all were there and obviously it hadn´t helped them to take the bastard by surprise. If he wanted to be of any more help, he had to find another way.

While he was looking around, he heard Shawn speaking up again, but halfway through his speech, Lassiter frowned. What was he talking about? His victims? He was talking as if _he_ was the killer. When he then even answered to his own speech with a dry `surprise´, Lassiter forgot how to breath for a second.

Shawn had told them on the way, that he´d seen Sylar change into him, a moment before he´d shot him. Henry had called it fantasizing, caused by the blood loss and the shock. The standard explanation for things as unbelievable as that. Lassiter had spared a comment. Back then he hadn´t been sure what to think at all. He´d been uncertain when Guster had told him and he´d still been uncertain when Shawn did. But now that he was up here, at the roof of a church, his partner´s life on the line and listening to Shawn seemingly talking to himself, he wasn´t a bit uncertain anymore.

Shawn might be a lot of weird things but he was not crazy enough to soliloquize in such a moment. The person he was talking to had the same voice and Lassiter didn´t need to see him to know that he had also the same face. As strange as it was to actually believe that, but there was absolutely no way for him to doubt what he´d just found out. It was true. Mary´s insane theory hadn´t been insane after all. Lassiter couldn´t believe it.

"Tell me one thing." the Shawn voice demanded now.

Lassiter was sure it was the false Shawn who was speaking now, he couldn´t tell how he knew that. It was just some subtle difference in the tone of the voice he guessed.

"How could you survive after losing so much blood?" the speaker asked, sounding genuinely curious.

A moment later the other – the right – Shawn answered: "That was just for show, dude."

"I see." was the response.

Lassiter finally made himself stop wasting time and started to move. Obviously this was his day of climbing. Because that was the only way he saw to get to the other side, without being noticed. So he holstered his gun and searched for a place where he could accomplish this slightly insane plan of his.

He found one, a tiny window with a very steep sill, halfway between the ground and the parapet. Lassiter decided that it would have to do the trick. He went some steps back and took a running start at the wall.

**...**

"Let her go." Shawn demanded. "It´s over. You have nowhere to run. Backup is on the way and this time it´s not a bluff."

"Oh, I wouldn´t doubt your words for anything in the world, Shawn." Shawn/Sylar said. "But you must understand, that I can´t just let her go like that. She´s far too valuable for me." "Why? What does she have that you want?"

"Why don´t you tell him, sweetheart?" Shawn/Sylar suggested.

Juliet looked at Shawn with pleading eyes. She was scared and that alone made Shawn realize how serious this was. Jules was never scared. Now she swallowed so she could talk.

"He … He said I have a gift, that he wants." she explained.

Shawn lost all the blood from his face. Oh god, please no. In this moment he was grateful beyond believe that he hadn´t found Jules with her head already open and her brain removed. If they´d been just a little bit later … Shawn/Sylar smirked when he saw him paling. He seemed to know exactly what Shawn was thinking right now.

"Exactly." he affirmed his fears. "And now you will lay down your weapons. All of you. Or I take her pretty little brain out the hard way." To emphasize his words, he slightly shook the gun that was pointed at her head. When Henry and Buzz were still hesitating, he shouted at them: "NOW!"

They raised their hands and then slowly, went down to their knees, laying down their guns.

"Shove them over here." Shawn/Sylar demanded and they obeyed, reluctantly.

"Very well." Shawn/Sylar commented. He threw Shawn a smile and then took the gun away from Juliet´s head to aim at him.

"No." Juliet grabbed his arm and the shot rang out.

It went over Shawn´s head and into the wall of the tower. Shawn/Sylar had been taken by surprise. Juliet managed it to free herself a little from his grip, enough at least to struggle. And she was not the only one.

Henry immediately dived for his gun, to get it back and after a moment of hesitation, Buzz did the same. Shawn was diving too but he was heading for Jules and Sylar. Shawn/Sylar saw him coming and aimed at him. And this time Jules couldn´t hit his arm away in time.

The bullet hit Shawn in the chest, throwing him backwards.

"No." she cried out and grabbed Shawn´s/Sylar´s arm, hitting it against the parapet. The gun flew out of his hand, clattering over the ground, past Shawn.

The fake psychic struggled to lay on his side, groaning. He´d never been so happy about the invention of bulletproof vests. Never ever again would he tease Lassie or his dad for insisting on police procedure.

He managed it to sit up. Behind him Henry just picked up his gun. Buzz on the other hand had shoved his gun too far away. It lay right between the two struggling figures. Henry aimed at them, ready to shoot the fake Shawn.

Only that there was no fake Shawn anymore. Only two Juliets, struggling with each other.

**...**

Lassiter had heard the shots and the last few inches of his climbing tour had vanished in an instant. Now he was rounding the spire along the parapet and when he could see the other side, he ducked down, so he wouldn´t be seen. His gun had appeared in his hand without him noticing it – the force of long years of practice. Now he was peeking through the cross-shaped hole in the parapet and he saw three things at once. First: Spencer was on the ground, second: Henry and McNab were frozen in their steps and third: his partner had gained an evil twin sister.

The two similar women struggled with each other. One of them spotted the gun that lay on the ground, not noticing that the other one had also spotted a gun not so far from them. They shoved each other backwards and then simultaneously dived for the weapons. They came back up almost as simultaneously as they´d jumped for the guns. A second later they´d literally cornered each other. The two women stood there, aiming at each other and no one on this roof dared to even make a single move.

"Shoot her." one of the two Juliets cried. "It´s Sylar."

"No." the other one replied. "She´s it."

"Oh, dear god." McNab exhaled.

The two Juliets stared each other in the eyes. Then one of them turned her head halfway around to Shawn, still sitting on the ground. She never let the other women out of her sight.

"Shawn, are you all right?" she asked him, worried.

"I thought he killed you." the other one added.

Both of them sounded absolutely convincing. Dammit, Lassiter cursed. He had the perfect position. He was up here, invisible for everybody, even for his own guys and he had a clear shot. If he only knew which of them was the bad one. How was he supposed to know?

A strange thought occurred to him, unasked. Wasn´t there an episode of Star Trek once, where there were two Captain Kirks? Yeah, he believed there was. And the situation had been quite similar if he remembered correctly. A choice had been called for and there had been no way to tell the real from the fake. If he could just remember how it had turned out.

He cursed again, twice this time. First for his lack of memory for some stupid TV trivia and second for the fact that he was thinking about something as ridiculous as this in such a moment. But on the other hand … how much more ridiculous could a situation become?

Come on, Shawn, he urged in silence. Help me with this. Talk to them. Make them say something that tells me who is who.

"Where did we meet the first time?" Shawn shot out a question, as if he´d heard Lassiter´s command.

"At a diner." one of the Juliets answered him. "I was at a stakeout."

"How can you know that?" the other Juliet asked her opponent and then looked back at Shawn. "I don´t know how he does that but he´s not me." she cried. "I am the real one."

"How am I supposed to know?" Shawn asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What is that, Sylar? Where are you going with that?"

"He´s playing on time." one of them said.

"Sure." the other one agreed. "Because you hope that you can get away, even with dozens of cops surrounding the church. But you won´t. It´s over."

Lassiter was convinced that this one had to be his partner. She had sounded like her. So he aimed for the other one – for the head.

"You almost sound as if you believe that, Sylar." this one said now, facing her opponent. "You should listen to yourself and surrender."

Lassiter hesitated. What if he was wrong? He would have only one shot.

"Maybe we should shoot both of you." Shawn suggested and made Lassiter doubt his ears.

"What?" both of the Juliets cried unisono, equally shocked and confused about that suggestion.

"Did you lose your mind, kid?" Henry asked.

"There´s no way of telling who is the right one." Shawn insisted, trying to sound confident. "The real Jules would agree with me."

Lassiter closed his eyes for a moment. Dammit. Obviously Spencer remembered how the Star Trek episode had ended. Unbelievable that he´d had the same thought.

"This is the most stupid idea I´ve ever heard." Henry said. "I have a better idea. We´re _arresting_ both of them. McNab. Your handcuffs."

Lassiter exhaled in relief. At least one Spencer hadn´t lost his senses.

"I guess the real Juliet will not object to that." Henry said now while McNab got his cuffs. He gave the younger man a signal and he slowly approached the two women. Both of them watched him, without doing anything.

"Cuff them together." Henry ordered the young officer.

"Ehm …" McNab made when he was next to one of them. He was tensed as hell but he stood his ground pretty good.

"Ladies." Henry said.

The two women were still staring at each other. But then the Juliet next to McNab took one of her hands off the gun and presented it to Buzz. He was just about to cuff her when suddenly he got thrown backwards. He flew through the air and landed straight at Henry.

Lassiter who´d been in the process of shooting the other Juliet, jerked his finger away from the trigger.

A shot rang out and for a moment he thought it had been his gun. But it was Juliet who´d shot.

Her bullet didn´t hit though. It was standing in the air just a few inches before the raised hand of the other Juliet. She closed her hand and the bullet dropped to the ground. Then she waved her fingers and the gun flew out of Juliet´s hand, right into hers. A second later it was Juliet who got pulled into the arms of her twin. Again she was in a grip and had a gun pressed to her temple.

"Now I´m really … really pissed." she hissed at the three men. "But if you want to have it that way …"

She aimed at Shawn again, this time for his head. The real Juliet struggled but her kidnapper just tightened the grip on her arm and twisted it even deeper into her back. She cried out in pain and went to her knees. Juliet/Sylar faced Shawn again, ready to drive a bullet into his head. And then the shot rang out.

Only that it wasn´t Shawn´s head that jerked back. It was Juliet´s. The false one. An expression of utter surprise appeared on her face. Her eyes were somewhere in the distance of the sky. Her grip around the real Juliet´s wrist had loosened but Juliet was far too surprised to change her position just yet. She was looking at her kidnapper and then her head swirled around to Shawn. He was staring up at the parapet of the tower behind him, where the shot must have come from. Henry and Buzz did the same.

Now she finally found the willpower to wring her wrist out of the grip that was holding her. She stepped away from her evil twin, who was still standing there, as if completely paralyzed. Looking at her face made this scene almost unbelievable. The bullet had hit her straight between the eyes. She should be dead by now. But she wasn´t. Sylar wasn´t.

Suddenly someone grabbed Juliet from behind and she jumped. But it was only Shawn, pulling her in for a protective hug.

The other Juliet started to stumble backwards. Just two steps and she was at the parapet. Her legs hit the little barrier and she lost balance. There was a desperate expression on her face, as if she knew exactly what was happening to her, but she just had no power to stop it. A moment later she was just gone, out of sight.

Juliet needed almost an eternity to get her eyes off that empty spot, where she´d seen herself vanishing in the depth. She knew it was impossible but she could have sworn that she´d heard the thudding sound of the body hitting the ground. Eventually she jerked her head around and away from that sight. She was clinging to Shawn more than she was hugging him, just to make sure he was really there. And that it was over.

Shawn was just holding her, almost unable to believe himself that it was over. But the look in his father´s eyes and Buzz who was leaning over the parapet, looking down, told him that he hadn´t imagined it. As well as the sight of Lassiter, who stood at the top of the tower, looking down to him. That was probably the one thing that made it complete and possible for him to believe that it was real.

He squeezed Juliet tighter and nodded gratefully up to Lassiter, before closing his eyes and resting his head on Juliet´s shoulder. The nausea was back and it became worse very quickly now. He squeezed his eyes shut against it but it was no use. A second later his legs gave in and Juliet needed to hold _him_. Shawn was out for the count.


	10. Epilogue

**Epilog**

Shawn walked along the long white hall, a feeling in his guts as if he was about to enter the bowels of hell. A clinically clean, white and sterile hell but hell nonetheless. The guy that was waiting for him in there was not the devil – not quite – but he gave him the creeps no less. And since Shawn had seen a man transform into him right in front of his eyes without any kind of drug being involved, he was not so sure anymore if there wasn´t a devil somewhere beyond this world he could see with his eyes.

Earlier in his life he would have laughed about such thoughts. Now …

He threw a look at the man beside him. His guide through all these endless halls of insane science, that had to be part of an even insaner project, he was sure. Just looking at this man convinced Shawn that it couldn´t be anything else. He had a feeling as if he looked at a clone of a dead man. The similarity was unbelievable. Though this Dr. Suresh had introduced himself as Raj´s cousin, Shawn couldn´t help but wonder if this was the truth. He´d had a twin not so long ago and only a moment before all of that had been over, Jules had had one too. So who told him that this man was really just a relative of Raj that happened to share the same face with him?

Shawn wasn´t sure about anything anymore. His whole concept of the world had been turned upside down within only two days.

"We will transfer him in a few days." Suresh just told him with an accented version of Raj´s voice and opened another door. Another door that led into another hall. All of them looking just the same. God, how he hated these government buildings.

"The injuries he obtained during the fight, are fully healed by now." Suresh finished his summary.

"How´s that possible?" Shawn asked. "I mean … he fell down from the top of the church. How can he …?"

But in fact it wasn´t even necessary to ask that question, was it? The same way he´d survived the gunshots from Lassiter. A man that survived a bullet right between his eyes, would also survive to jump off a roof.

"I can´t answer that question." was all Suresh would say. "Usually you wouldn´t even be allow to come here to talk to him. But the circumstances are unique in this case."

Shawn only nodded. Then he reached out a hand to stop Suresh for a moment. "Can I ask you a question?"

Suresh nodded.

"Do you feel … hate … for him? He killed your cousin after all."

"Not only my cousin." Suresh replied after taking a deep breath. "My father died from his hands too."

"So you _do_ hate him?" Shawn asked uncertain.

Suresh looked ahead the hall in silence for a moment, honestly considering that question. He seemed to struggle with himself. At last he faced Shawn again, a hard look in his eyes.

"I´m a scientist." he stated. "Sylar … was my father´s patient zero. And now he is mine. He has things in his body, his cells … his blood, that will help us understand human development. He is … something special. Biologically speaking. And therefor he´s worth preserving."

Shawn felt a strange stitch of something like disgust in his chest. This whole speech reminded him of the kind of dark science fiction films in which humans were used as guinea pigs by scientists. And this doctor was talking exactly that same stuff they always talked about in these films. It´s for human kinds best. We do what is necessary for the greater good.

Shawn didn´t know how exactly he felt about Sylar. The guy had tried to kill him after all and not only him. But something about these people made him shiver no less than the thought of Sylar himself made him shiver. When they´d arrived at the church he´d been grateful. But the way they´d acted, the way they´d looked at all of them and especially the way they´d talked about Sylar and the whole incident … It had felt strange. He wasn´t sure if these people were so much better than Sylar.

Maybe he watched too many of those films, he mused. Secret government agencies that experimented on humans? That was Raj´s cousin after all and he had every reason to feel hate for this murderer at the end of this hall.

Shawn could only look at this strange doctor, who looked so awfully familiar and yet so different from the man he´d known. He had the same eyes as Raj. But he wasn´t Raj. Raj was dead. So was Mina. And almost Gus and Jules and he himself too. He wasn´t sure if he hated the guy that was in the cell at the end of this hallway. But if he could handle to work with him the way this man obviously planed to do, he didn´t know either. Probably not.

Suresh gestured for him to keep going and they did. At the end of the hall they had to go through another door. The third one since they´d entered this labyrinth of hallways. This time it was gratefully the last one.

It was dark on the other side. Shawn could only see that there was a glass wall, just like in Silence of the Lambs and in the cell behind it, there was a figure, sitting on a bed right in the middle of the room. He had his legs crossed and his head bowed down as if in deep meditation.

Suresh reached for the light switch and the room was illuminated in cold white light. The figure in the cell slowly raised his head to look at them. Shawn was still not able to believe that it was the same man, he´d seen being shot in the head by Lassiter´s bullet. No, that was not entirely true. The person he´d seen being shot that way, had had Juliet´s face. Still, when these strange government agents had arrived to collected the body from the pavement before the church, it had been Sylar again. And he had looked quite dead back then.

Now he was alive and well and he looked directly at Shawn. There was something attached to his head that looked like a strange sort of IV. But Sylar didn´t seem to notice it. He was smiling.

"How nice of you to come by and visit me before I´m transferred." he said. When Shawn didn´t answer, Sylar raised both eyebrows at him and asked: "How´s Juliet? And Gus?"

"Better." Shawn answered the second question. "Sorry, you didn´t get him."

Sylar shook his head. "If you believe it or not, I didn´t plan to kill him."

"Right, you kicked him into the heavy traffic by accident." Shawn replied but only got another chuckle from Sylar. The killer turned to Suresh.

"Could we have a minute in private, Doc?" he asked politely.

Suresh just stared at Sylar for a moment and Shawn could almost feel how much strength it must cost him to keep his emotions under control. Especially since the killer obviously enjoyed this inner struggle of the other man. Eventually Suresh turned to Shawn.

"I´m right outside." he told him, and left in silence.

After he´d closed the door, Shawn and Sylar just stared at each other for a while, surrounded only by the cold light and the deafening silence. Slowly Sylar got up from his bed and walked over to the glasswall. Shawn didn´t move. He didn´t intent to go any closer to that wall if he didn´t have to. Sylar seemed to read that decision in his face and chuckled again, nodding understandingly.

"What do you want from me?" Shawn asked harshly. "You asked me to come and I´m here. So what is it?"

"I told you what I wanted from you." Sylar said.

"Yeah, sorry." Shawn replied. "But no."

Again Sylar smiled. "I know. What a pity."

Shawn just couldn´t believe it. Did this guy really make fun of him? After all that had happened? Was that the only reason why he´d asked him to come?

"Whatever you say, it doesn´t change a thing." he said. "You´re in here. You´re locked away safely. Forever. You´ll be a human guinea pig."

"You think I don´t know what waits for me in here?" Sylar suddenly burst out and made Shawn flinch. "Believe me, I know what they have in mind for me." Sylar told him, now much calmer again. "It´s not the first time, you know."

Shawn didn´t give a response. He was busy enough with his try to keep up a calm face. He only had the gnashing feeling that Sylar could see through this mask, easily.

"Did they ask you about any gift of yours?" Sylar asked him all the sudden.

Shawn blinked. "No." he said.

Sylar nodded. "They will." he foretold him. "Before you can leave this place, they´ll stop you for … Just a Few More Questions. I know what you would do under different circumstances. I did some research on you. With my own methods …" he raised the finger that he´d had in Shawn´s blood. "As well as the old fashioned way. I know your way. Do yourself a favor and don´t do it this time."

Shawn narrowed his eyes, unsure what to think.

"If you don´t want anyone to find out that you are not really psychic, don´t let them stick needles in you. Because that´s what they´ll do. Not the small ones you know from your doctor when he gives you a vaccination. I´m talking about the big calibers. The ones that go not only through your skin, but right through your bones."

Shawn swallowed dryly.

"But most of all …" Sylar went on when he was sure Shawn had gotten his message. "Don´t tell them anything about Juliet. Because if they find out that she actually _has_ an ability … it won´t stay with the needles. Believe me. I know what I´m talking about."

"Why do you care?" Shawn asked. "You were ready to kill us. Why do you care about our well being all the sudden?"

"Because of the system." Sylar said.

"The system?"

"Yeah. A system like yours … it´s like a clock work. You all are a part in it. It´s gentle and sensitive. If one element gets lost, the whole system breaks down. I have seen this system. It wasn´t meant for me to take over your part in it. But it is unique nevertheless. I respect that. And I envy you for it. Take care of it. Don´t let them break it."

Shawn looked into those dark mysterious eyes of the man that had tried to kill him, and for a moment, just one moment, he believed he maybe could understand Suresh´s view on this man after all. "I won´t." he promised and Sylar nodded at him as if they´d just agreed on a shared secret. In some way they had.

"That all?" Shawn asked.

"Just one more thing." Sylar said and inched even closer to the glass. "Keep watching out for me." he told Shawn, fixing his eyes on him. "You survived me once. No one survives me twice."

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><p><strong>For all of you who are interested, feel free to read (and review) the sequels to this pilot. This series is not finished yet, so keep watching out for it if you like.<strong>

**And thanks for reading.**


	11. Author's Note

**Author´s note**

Hello friends. As I said, I plan to add these little (or maybe not that little, I have to see how much comes out of my literary diarrhea sick mind) things at the end of each Psych/Heroes Crossover story from now on. A few people asked me how I came up with this insanity and I thought instead of answering them one by one I write a general statement. Just in case some more people were wondering: What the heck was she thinking?

So here we go. Oh, but before we go: If you haven´t read the story itself yet and you don´t wanna spoil your fun with it, don´t read this Note first. Okay, having said this I think I can go on. You have been warned.

When I started to write this story I had no idea what this show Heroes was about. I had never watched it and I didn´t know any of the characters – except for Sylar. No, I still hadn´t watched anything from the show. I saw the trailer this story is based on, of course, because I liked fanmade trailers about Psych that were serious and darker than usual. This one was both and it was freaking good. Still I had no idea who this guy Sylar was or any of the others. And then someone posted a challenge at the Psychfic website and I thought to myself: Maybe I could write the story to that trailer. I already did this once for a trailer that Crossovered Back To The Future and Terminator (but that´s another story and shell be told another time). So I knew I could do it and I just tried. This story is what came out on the other side.

But back to the point. I never watched Heroes not before and not while I wrote this story. I did some research via Wikipedia and Youtube. There were a few short videos about Sylar that I watched but that was truly all I had. Still I felt that I knew that guy good enough to write him convincingly and some of you guys confirmed for me that I indeed did an appropriate job writing him. Sometimes you just know a certain character, no matter if you know him or not and Sylar … I don´t know. I just knew him. I knew how he ticked, if you like that better. And so I started writing. And damn it was fun, I can tell you that.

About the fact that I started the story with killing poor Mina: I´m truly sorry about that, especially since I went on killing poor Raj as the story went as well. That was a mean thing to do, I know that. I liked these two in the Bollywood Homicide episode. I really did. But since Raj had the bad luck to have the same face as Mohinder, I just had to put him into this story and it ended with me killing him (I mean Sylar killing him). First I thought about letting Raj be Mohinder in some way, but I just couldn´t figure out a scenario where this would have been believable. So I just made him his cousin and I think it worked. Until Sylar killed him of course. Anyway, I know it was mean but there was just no other way. Sorry.

About Shawn and Juliet in this story, I can only say that I´m not a Shules shipper how you fans like to call it. I have nothing against their relationship, it´s part of the show and I´m absolutely okay with that. But stories only about romance are boring to me so I don´t write them. The challenge insisted on a fair amount of romance though, so I did my best to work it in.

The talk between the two of them in the diner was a necessity, because I wanted this story to start with showing what a lighthearted life Shawn has, before all these dark things come upon him and his friends. I struggled a while with what I wanted to let him and Gus plan for the day and I was the luckiest girl in the universe when I remembered that there was an animated series once about this awesome movie Transformers. And since Shawn is always one for the 80ies references I figured that was the best thing to use for that. If you didn´t get it yet, that was a recommendation to watch these movies. All three of them. If you haven´t seen them yet and have no problem with sci fi action, you would miss something really really good.

Okay back to my story. To bring Mary Lightly into this story was of course because he was in the trailer. I know he´s dead in the Psych universe but that´s the great thing about Crossovers. You don´t need to stick to everything that was in the show. So I made him be alive and well (you can pretend he simply survived this attempt on his life back then) … and just as weird as Mary can be.

Speaking of which: I figured it only appropriate to let Mary be the one who introduced the Psych crew to the supernatural part of the whole affair. He´s weird enough to believe in such stuff and to be convinced that one of his number one suspects he´s chasing for so long, has superhuman powers. Of course the SBPD would not buy that story. These guys are rational thinking cops after all and let´s be honest. If someone would tell you that a random guy can change his face and form, would you believe it? Exactly. So they of course dismissed it as one of Mary´s crazy ideas. At least until they saw it with their own eyes. But that comes later.

Sylar´s interest in Shawn was of course based on the fact that he believed him to be a real psychic. Mina and Raj had believed he was a real psychic and so Sylar was curious for a new ability. But as the story went, he realized that Shawn had no ability that was interesting for him. Instead he grew interested in the guy itself. „Let´s just say, you fascinate me." That was true. He called him to let him and the others come for him, so he would be able to watch them. That was the only reason for his phone call.

In the show Raj was a guy who believed strongly in magic and such stuff, so I let him hear Mary´s speech, simultaneously letting him feel the urge to find the man who had killed his beloved wife. Again I blame that on the trailer which showed how Mohinder pulled the trigger on Sylar and that just left me no choice but to write a scene that made this happen. You all know how it went down in the end. Sylar was surprised to learn that Mohinder had a cousin that looks almost like his twin but when Raj told him he knew about what he was, he couldn´t let him run to tell everybody. So he killed him. I still believe that he would have let him go, if Raj only hadn´t told him that he knew what he was. It seems those unwise decisions run in the family.

So Sylar brought Raj to the pier and called Shawn to tell him where to find him. I guess that was his way of showing some kind of compassion for the guy. He didn´t want his family to find him in the ditch. The pursue that ensued after Mary disturbed Sylar´s vibes with the dog whistle was not planned but I guess Sylar actually provoked Lassiter to shoot him, so he could get away and let them think he was dead. That Shawn tracked him down later on, was something he didn´t expect.

To use a mosque as the giveaway was pure necessity again. I needed Shawn to hear something in the background while on the phone with Sylar, that could come back to him later on, and I figured that the usual ringing bells from a church would be too vague. So I made it a calling muezzin instead. And btw. Shawn´s thoughts, if the Indian had anything to do with mosques, were of course only Shawn´s unawareness of things like that. I know that the mosque belongs to the Muslims and not to the Indians. Though I´m sure that there are some mosques in India too, but that goes too deeply into the subject now. Just wanted to make that clear. I know the difference. I learned about religion in school.

When Shawn found Sylar´s apartment, I let him wander around for a while to give Sylar time to arrive without if feeling rushed. The binder he found under the mattress was to let him start considering the idea of superhumans again before he would actually see it. It was also my (admittedly pathetic) way of bringing this famous list somehow into the story. All serial killers keep something from their victims I figured. And even if in Sylar´s case this something is the ability, I let Shawn find something real as well. (btw: I had to restrain myself from writing that the binder was made with a three hole puncher at this point. Psych watchers will know what I´m talking about. But since the scene was not meant to be funny, I left it out. If it would have been a parody or something I might have done it but not in here. It could have been like that: „Under the mattress he found a binder. It was made with a three hole puncher." But as I said. The scene was meant to be scary and not funny.)

Well, where was I? Ah, yeah. That Sylar shot Shawn and then brought his finger into his blood to lick it off, was a reference to Terminator 3. The female Terminator in that film did something similar after she shot a woman, to find out if she was the one, she was looking for. I remembered where this came from some time after I already wrote the scene though. I only knew I knew it from somewhere. But I think it worked pretty good, to let Sylar take a sample of Shawn like that, so he would be able to take his form. The way he shot Shawn and believed that he was dead, was also a reference. This time to Scream 3. In a scene where the bad guy thinks he shoots Sidney to death and she rolls around just as I let Shawn roll around, so the bad guy doesn´t see she´s wearing a vest underneath her cloths.

When Sylar went to the station, his intentions were to take over Shawn´s life. He´d seen how good his life was, with his friends and colleagues and he wanted to have a life as good as this. In some way he only wanted to be as happy as Shawn. In his twisted mind, the only way of getting that was to steal in from Shawn.

I let him go with Gus first, because I thought it would be nice if he would be the first to figure out that the Shawn he was talking to, was not his childhood friend. Gus actually would be the only one who could figure that out, just by talking to him. Nothing against Henry but I think the old grumbler would need longer for that, especially since he wouldn´t be ready to consider shapeshifting as a possibility. Gus would and he did. The car accident that followed didn´t injure him too much btw. Just to let you guys know that. He´ll be all right again.

I also wanted Lassiter to play a big part in solving the whole thing, so I let him find Gus, so Gus could tell him what happened. I wanted Lassiter to be the hero of some sorts in the end, so it was him (next to Mary) who urged them all to go and look for Shawn in order to find Sylar and Juliet. That was the reason why he had to talk over Henry when they finally found Shawn. Because these two were united in their wish to find and rescue Juliet, while Henry was still not ready to believe in the whole superhuman idea. Sometimes people are stubborn and that can go that far, to ignore hard facts even if they stand right in front of them. And Henry is a very stubborn guy.

About the scene with Juliet and Sylar in the church. I figured that it was okay to give Juliet an ability. I was strictly against the idea to let Shawn have one, but Juliet, that was a different matter. And I couldn´t think of anything better than to let her have the ability to make people love her. I mean, everybody loves her, so why shouldn´t that be the result of an ability? So I made Sylar be in love with her, just the way Shawn was in love with her. I wanted to show that all Sylar wanted, was to be loved and respected, the way Shawn was loved and respected. He wanted to be as lucky as him. Everybody needs a reason for what he´s doing and that was Sylar´s reason.

But then Juliet started to feel uncomfortable (I hope I could serve the needs of all the Shules shippers out there when I let her feel it when she kissed him. That it felt not the same for her and that she knew from that, that it wasn´t Shawn.) and Sylar started to realize that his plan wouldn´t work. That he couldn´t just take over Shawn´s life and be Shawn. And that made him first desperate and then angry. He didn´t plan to kill anyone else but Shawn. That he turned out to hurt some more people after that, that just happened. (as you can see, I do know that guy)

To accomplish my goal of letting Lassiter be the hero in the end, I let them split up, so he could sneak up on them all, all on his own. By making him the sniper that takes out the bad guy in the end.

The showdown between Shawn and Sylar (or Juliet and Sylar, however you want to see it) was, just like I wrote in the story, inspired by this one episode of Star Trek, where there were two Captain Kirks. Shawn´s suggestion to shoot them both came directly from there. But of course that was a ridiculous thing to do in this case, so I let Henry be the voice of more reason. Arresting both of them.

You all know the rest, since I figure you read the story. They struggle for a while and in the end Lassiter shoots the bad guy and saves the day. And of course I had to end this scene with a funny impression of Shawn fainting as soon as everything was over. I just like the idea of him holding Juliet protectively after everything is over and then he just faints. Another small reference to a movie (Sleepy Hollow, where Johnny Depp´s character used to faint all the time).

Coming to the last part, the Epilogue, I need to thank one of my constant readers, Johncorn, for his suggestions about Mohinder. I would have written his part in this chapter completely different if it wouldn´t have been for your notes. I had no idea how vengeful Mohinder was when it comes to Sylar (as I said, I didn´t know the show). So thanks. You kinda saved me here. And the next story that followed this one.

The last line, Sylar said to Shawn, was not planned and I honestly can not take credit for this. That was totally Sylar and not me. I only wanted him to tell Shawn to be careful, because he really respected him for this system he had the great luck to live in. But to end with this threat, that came as a total surprise, even for me. But it was great to end like that. Kudos, Sylar. You´re a better writer than me sometimes. I would have never thought of a line like that.

All right before I freak you guys out completely, I´ll stop talking to fictional not existing characters here and just stop. That was long enough and when I roll back to what I wrote at the beginning, it was a little longer than just a small text after all. I hope I didn´t babble too much. If I bored you, I´m sorry. But that´s the great thing about an Author´s note. No one is bound to read it. But if you made it through this whole thing, kudos. And if you have to say anything, don´t hold back. I always appreciate feedback.

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><p><strong>So thank you all for staying with me that long and for all your great reviews. And most of all:<strong>

**Thanks for reading.**


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